Scottish Rulers

Question 1

Malcolm II

r. 1005 - 1034

Answer 1

This king acquired the throne by killing Kenneth III, who belonged to a rival royal dynasty. He attempted to expand his kingdom southwards with a notable victory at the Battle of Carham, Northumbria in 1018. He was driven north again in 1027 by King Cnut.

Question 2

Duncan I

r. 1034 - 1040

Answer 2

This king was the grandchild of Malcolm. He invaded northern England and besieged Durham in 1039.

Question 3

Macbeth

r. 1040 - 1057

Answer 3

This king acquired the throne after defeating Duncan I in a family feud battle. He was the first Scottish king to make a pilgrimage to Rome. A generous patron of the church, it is thought he was buried at Iona, the traditional resting place of the kings of the Scots.

Question 4

Malcolm III Canmore

r. 1057 - 1093

Answer 4

This king killed Macbeth and Macbeth’s stepson, Lulach, in an English-sponsored attack. William the Conqueror invaded Scotland in 1072 and forced this Scottish king to accept the Peace of Abernethy, making this king a vassal.

Question 5

Donald III Ban

r. 1093 - 1094/7

Answer 5

The son of Duncan I, this king seized the throne from his brother Malcolm III. He also caused the Anglo-Normans to feel very unwelcome at his court. He was defeated and dethroned by his nephew Duncan II in May 1094, but reclaimed the throne later that year.

Question 6

Duncan II

r. 1094

Answer 6

Son of Malcolm III, this king had been sent to the court of William I as a hostage. With the help of an army supplied by William Rufus he defeated his uncle Donald III Ban. Was murdered on 12 November 1094.

Question 7

Edgar

r. 1097 - 1107

Answer 7

This king had taken refuge in England when his parents died in 1093. Following the death of his half-brother Duncan II, he became the Anglo-Norman candidate for the Scottish throne. He defeated Donald III Ban with the aid of an army supplied by William II.

Question 8

Alexander I

r. 1107 - 1124

Answer 8

This king succeeded his brother Edgar to the throne, and continued the policy of ‘reforming’ the Scottish Church by building his new priory at Scone near Perth. He married the illegitimate daughter of Henry I. He died childless and was buried in Dunfermline.

Question 9

David I

r. 1124 - 1153

Answer 9

A modernizing king, this king was responsible for transforming his kingdom largely by continuing the work of Anglicization begun by his mother. He seems to have spent as much time in England as he did in Scotland. He was the first Scottish king to issue his own coins and he promoted the the development of towns at Edinburgh, Dunfermline, Perth, Stirling, Inverness and Aberdeen. By the end of his reign his lands extended over Newcastle and Carlisle. He was almost as rich and powerful as the king of England.

Question 10

Malcolm IV

r. 1153 - 1165

Answer 10

Grandson of David I, this king became king when he was 12. Recognizing ‘that the King of England had a better argument by reason of his much greater power’, this king surrendered Cumbria and Northumbria to Henry II. He died unmarried and with reputation for chastity, hence his nickname ‘the Maiden’.

Question 11

William the Lion

r. 1165 - 1214

Answer 11

After a failed attempt to invade Northumbria, this king was captured by Henry II. In return for his release, this king and other Scottish nobles had to swear allegiance to Henry and hand over sons as hostages. English garrisons were installed throughout Scotland. It was only in 1189 that this Scottish king was able to recover Scottish independence in return for a payment of 10,000 marks.

Question 12

Alexander II

r. 1214 - 1249

Answer 12

This king was the son of William the Lion. With the Anglo-Scottish agreement of 1217, he established a peace between the two kingdoms that would last for 80 years. The agreement was further cemented by his marriage to Henry III’s sister Joan in 1221. Renouncing his ancestral claim to Northumbria, the Anglo-Scottish border was finally established by the Tweed-Solway line.

Question 13

Alexander III

r. 1249 - 1286

Answer 13

The son of Alexander II, this king married Henry III’s daughter Margaret in 1251. Following the Battle of Largs against King Haakon of Norway in Oct. 1263, this king secured the western Highlands and Islands for the Scottish Crown. After the deaths of his sons, he approved his granddaughter Margaret as his successor. He fell and was killed whilst riding along the cliffs of Kinghorn in Fife.

Question 14

John Balliol

r. 1292 - 1296

Answer 14

Given the Scottish crown by Edward I, this king was largely unsuccessful, and was imprisoned in the Tower of London until he was sent to France where he ended his life.

Question 15

Robert I (the Bruce)

r. 1306 - 1329

Answer 15

After murdering John Comyn for the throne in Greyfriars Church Dumfries in 1306, this king was excommunicated but still crowned king the same year. Achieved a decisive victory over Edward II’s army at Bannockburn in 1314, gaining freedom.

Question 16

David II

r. 1329 - 1371

Answer 16

The only surviving legitimate son of Robert Bruce, this king succeeded his father when only 5 years of age. He was the first Scottish king to be crowned AND anointed. He sent to France for his own safe keeping. In support of his allegiance with France, he invaded England in 1346, whilst Edward III was otherwise occupied with the siege of Calais. His army was intercepted by forces raised by the Archbishop of York. This king was wounded and captured, and later released after agreeing to pay a ransom of 1000,000 marks. He died unexpectedly and without an heir, while trying to divorce his second wife in order to marry his latest mistress.

Question 17

Robert II

r. 1371 - 1390

Answer 17

This king was recognised the heir presumptive in 1318, but the birth of David II meant that he had to wait 50 years before he could become the first Stewart king at the age of 55. A poor and ineffective ruler with little interest in soldiering, he delegated responsibility for law and order to his sons.

Question 18

Robert III (Lame King)

r. 1390 - 1406

Answer 18

As King, this king appears to have been as ineffective as his father Robert II. In 1406 he decided to send his eldest surviving son to France; the boy was captured by the English and imprisoned in the Tower. Robert died the following month and, according to one source, asked to be buried in a midden (dunghill) as ‘the worst of kings and most wretched of men’.

Question 19

James I

r. 1406 - 1437

Answer 19

After falling into English hands on his way to France in 1406, this king was held a captive until 1424. He was eventually released after agreeing to pay a 50,000 mark ransom. On his return to Scotland, he spent much of his time raising the money to pay off his ransom by imposing taxes, confiscating estates from nobles and clan chiefs. Needless to say, such actions made him few friends; a group of conspirators broke into his bedchamber and murdered him.

Question 20

James II

r. 1437 - 1460

Answer 20

Although king since the murder of his father when he was 7, it was following his marriage to Mary of Guelders that he actually assumed control. An aggressive and warlike king, he appears to have taken particular exception to the Livingstons and Black Douglases. Fascinated by firearms, he was blown up and killed by one of his own siege guns whilst besieging Roxburgh

Question 21

James III

r. 1460 - 1488

Answer 21

At the tender age of 8, he was proclaimed king following the death of his father James II. Six years later he was kidnapped; upon his return to power, he proclaimed his abductors, the Boyds, traitors. His attempt to make peace with the English by marrying his sister off to an English noble was somewhat scuppered when she was found to be already pregnant. He was killed at the Battle of Sauchieburn in Stirlingshire on 11 June 1488.

Question 22

James IV

r. 1488 - 1513

Answer 22

To protect his borders, this king spent lavish sums on artillery and the navy. He led expeditions into the Highlands to assert royal authority and developed Edinburgh as his royal capital. He sought peace with England by marrying Henry VII’s daughter Margaret Tudor in 1503, an act that would ultimately unite the two kingdoms a century later. He was defeated and killed at Flodden, along with most of the leaders of Scottish society.

Question 23

James V

r. 1513 - 1542

Answer 23

Mary of Guise, succeeded in ruling Scotland during the regency for her young daughter Mary I only by dividing and conquering the noble factions, distributing French bribes with a liberal hand.

Question 24

Mary I

r. 1542 - 1567

Answer 24

Queen of Scotland (1542–67) and queen consort of France (1559–60). Sencond marrige was to her cousin Henry Stewart earl of Darnley. Possibly murdered him with the help of eventual third husband James Hepburn, 4th earl of Bothwell, Her unwise marital and political actions provoked rebellion among the Scottish nobles, forcing her to flee to England, where she was eventually beheaded as a Roman Catholic threat to the English throne.

Question 25

Margret

r. 1286 - 1290

Answer 25

Maid of Norway
Recognised as Queen of Scots following the death of her grandfather, King Alexander III.
She was the daughter of King Eric II of Norway and Margaret, daughter of King Alexander III of Scotland.
Never set foot in Scotland.

Question 26

First Interregnum

1290 - 1292

Answer 26

The death of Margaret of Norway began a two-year interregnum in Scotland caused by a succession crisis. With her death, the descent of William I became extinct, and there was no obvious heir by primogeniture.

Guardians of Scotland:

William Fraser, Bishop of St Andrews
Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow
John II Comyn, Lord of Badenoch
James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland
Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan
Donnchadh III, Earl of Fife

Question 27

Second Interregnum

1296 - 1306

Answer 27

For ten years, Scotland had no King of its own. The Scots, however, refused to tolerate English rule. First William Wallace and then, after his execution, Robert the Bruce (the grandson of the 1292 competitor, Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale) fought against the English. Bruce and his supporters killed a rival for the throne, John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch on 10 February 1306 at Greyfriars Church in Dumfries.

Guardians of Scotland:

William Wallace 1297 -1298
Robert the Bruce 1298 - 1300
Ingram de Umfraville 1300 - 1301
John III Comyn 1298 - 1301
William de Lamberton 1299 - 1301
John de Soules 1301 - 1304