Robert III (1390 - 1406)

John, Earl of Carrick, the eldest son of Robert II and Elizabeth Mure, refused to be crowned king in his own name as he considered it to be unlucky. Robert was already in his fifties when he came to power and by all accounts he was an invalid and a depressive. On one occasion while in a discussion with his wife, Annabella Drummond, he asked to be buried in a 'midden' with the epitaph 'Here lies the worst of kings and the most miserable of men'. Unfortunatley this statement had more than an element of truth about it. In general Robert let his country be (mis)governed without any input from himself. Following the coronation Robert, Earl of Fife, the kings brother, was made Governor of the Realm in an open declaration that Robert was not considered able to rule the kingdom. Things went from bad to worse with royal income significantly reduced and lawlessness significantly increased. It was during the period of the first two Stewarts that the Highland/Lowland split became very apparent. The Lowlands in the south were coming to be seen as cultured and civilised while the Highlands and other Gaelic speaking regions were seen as barbarous. The west was now almost an independent state under the Macdonalds, the powerful Lords of the Isles. Even the king's brother Alexander, 'the Wolf of Badenoch' was involved in raids on the Lowlands from the Highlands as well as the notorious burning of Elgin Cathedral. In 1396 the king even presided over a set battle between the Chattan and Kay clans at Perth.

Robert III with wife Annabella Drummond

Realising that something had to be done the Queen in 1399 organised a palace coup. David, Duke of Rothesay, the king's heir, was made Lieutenant of the Realm. Robert's brother, the Earl of Fife, also demanded, and got, a dukedom - that of Albany. It soon became apparent that David, Duke of Rothesay, was useless and Albany had him imprisoned at Falkland Palace, where he died in 1402. The Queen was also dead by now and very little stood between Albany and the throne.

Robert III had finally realised that the situation was now desperate and he had his last surviving son, Prince James, put aboard a merchant ship headed for France. Even this went wrong as the ship was captured by pirates and James was taken to Henry IV, who promptly threw him into the Tower of London. When the news of his sons capture reached him Robert totally gave up and 'his spirit forthwith left him, the strength waned from his body, his countenance grew pale, and for grief thereafter he took no food'. He was dead within a few days.

History Books on Robert III:

Author	Title	Published	Price	Order Now From:
Boardman, S.	The Stewart Dynasty in Scotland - Robert II & III, 1371-1406	1996	£14.99	Amazon.co.uk
The Stewart Dynasty in Scotland series aims to brings the rich political heritage of late medieval and early modern Scotland before as wide a reading public as possible, with specialist authors writing for the feneral reader as well as the student or academic. This volume is number one in the series and is also the first scholarly biography of the two kings who established medieval Scotland's most famous and durable royal dynasty. Robert II, long regarded as a weak and ineffective king, pursued a determined political and propaganda campaign which largely overcame initial political opposition. Robert III was forced to engage in a long-term struggle with his brother Albany for control of the kingdom. Firmly based on contemporary documentary sources, Stephen Boardman's study examines the ways in which both kings' unjustly poor reputations grew from later embellishments to contemporary political propaganda.

History Books on this time period:

Author	Title	Published	Price	Order Now From:
Grant, A.	Independence & Nationhood: Scotland 1306-1469	1991	£9.95 or $20.00	Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Under Robert Bruce and his successors, Scotland's independence from England was maintained and its sense of nationhood developed. Alexander Grant shows how this had a profound effect upon domestic as well as foreign affairs, and how it led to the evolution of a distinctive Scottish government, nobility, Church and economy. At the same time he puts Scottish history into the international context of the 100 Years War, the economic and demographic upheaval caused by the bubonic plague, and the Christianity of the pre-reformation era. Challenging traditional assumptions of general late-medieval decline, Independence and Nationhood demonstrates how the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were a crucially important period of change and growth for Scotland.
Nicholson, R.	Scotland: The Later Middle Ages	1974	£15.99	Amazon.co.uk
The four-volume Edinburgh History of Scotland is the most important project in Scottish historical writing for more than half a century; each volume is written by an expert on the period who brings to his work the direct acquaintance with original sources on which authoritative historical writing can alone be based. This, the second volume, covers the period from the close of the 13th century to the Battle of Flodden. It presents a sophisticated analysis of the facts and a comprehensive description of all the varied and intricate aspects of Scottish Medieval life. Although the book is detailed enough to serve as a work of reference, the historical development of the emergence of, possibly, the first self-conscious nation of Europe into what was perhaps the first 'new monarchy' of Europe may here be read as a continuous narrative of events. Professor Nicholson presents a precise picture of the economy, society and politics of medieval Scotland.