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Stewart, Stuart or Steward?

Robert II - Ruled 1371-1390  Born: 1316  Died: 1390, Dundonald Castle Marriage I: Elizabeth Mure  Children: nine, including Robert III  Marriage II: Euphemia Ross Children: four
First of the Stewart line, Robert was the only son of Walter Stewart and Marjory, daughter of Robert Bruce, and was born in 1316. He took part in the battle of Halidon Hill, and acted as an adviser during the minority of David II and as Regent of Scotland during David's captivity in England, 1346-1357. He was thus the natural successor to his childless uncle on his death, in 1371. Almost 55 when the ascended, he was well past his best days - he was known as "Auld Blearie" because of his bloodshot eyes - but still highly thought of. However, this wasn't to last. He was engaged for several years in war with England, in which he was aided by the French, but he was a feeble, ineffectual king. He did, however, manage to persuade the Scottish Parliament in 1375 to settle the succession on his sons by his first wife, Elizabeth, a marriage illegal under Church law, since the two sons it produced were born before wedlock. The seeds of dissent sown by his having over 20 other illegitimate children would racket down through Scottish royal genealogy for generations to come, starting with events in the reign of Robert III.
His defeat of the English at the battle of Otterburn in 1388 was almost the only high point of his reign. He more or less relinquished power to his eldest but disabled son, later Robert III, the Earl of Fife being named Regent in 1389, and lived chiefly in retirement during his latter years and died at Dundonald Castle in 1390.

Robert III - Ruled 1390-1406 Born 1337 Died: Marriage: Annabella Drummond  Children: James I
If Robert II was feeble, his son was fully worse. Born illegitimate (though legitimised in 1347), and crippled by a horse kick in 1388, he was hardly fit for the expected battles with the English and he was legally declared unfit to rule. Originally named John, he changed it to avoid giving apparent legitimacy to John Baliol, who would then have been known, retrospectively, as John I. Over fifty years of age, indolent of nature and disabled, Robert left the chief power in the hands of his domineering brother, the Duke of Albany (previously Earl of Fife) as Governor of the Realm. Scotland spiralled downwards into chaos and anarchy with tensions between the Highland clans and the more feudal Lowlanders. "The whole kingdom was one den of thieves", a contemporary chronicler observed.
In 1398 Albany was forced to step down in favour of Robert's eldest son, David Duke of Rothesay and heir presumptive. In the tenth year of Robert III's reign war broke out with England. Henry IV invaded and the Percies made further inroads. The defeat of Douglas by the Percies at Homildon Hill in 1402 and the death of David in Falkland Palace did nothing to cement the stability of the kingdom. It was widely thought that the Duke of Rothesay had been poisoned or starved to death by his uncle, Albany, who again became Regent. Robert, to guard against the ambitious designs of the Duke of Albany, hid in Rothesay castle and sent his son, James, to France, but the young prince was taken prisoner by pirates on the way and sold to the English. He was held prisoner by Henry IV and Henry V for the next 18 years. On hearing this, his father died, broken-hearted, in 1406. He asked to be buried in a dung heap with the epitaph "Here lies the worst of kings and the most miserable of men". James I eventually succeeded him.

James I - Ruled 1406 (1424)-1437 Born: 1394  Died: 1437  Marriage:  c1423 Joan Beaufort, daughter of the Earl of Somerset Children: James II and a non-surviving twin
Nominally King of Scotland from 1406, he did not in fact return from his imprisonment in England until 1424, after handing over a ransom and hostages. In fact, he had been quite at home in the English court and had even accompanied Henry V to the French wars. He probably picked up a lot of statecraft from this acknowledged master. When he returned, aged 18, he was well educated, strong and likely to make an able king. His King's Quair is a volume of poetry well up to Chaucer's standards. First, he severely punished those who had governed in his absence (chiefly the Duke of Albany, his cousin and the son of his father's main tormentor). He executed Albany and his son Murdoch plus other leaders of the opposition, humiliated the Highland Clan chiefs by calling a meeting then arresting them all and imposed revenue-generating taxes on the lawless nobility. Exasperated, the nobles, led by the Earl of Atholl, had him murdered in his bed at his apartments at Perth on February 20, 1437. His seven-year-old son succeeded him as James II.

James II - Ruled 1437-1460  Born: 1430 Died: 1460 Marriage: Mary of Guelders  Children: four sons including James III
Up to this point the Stewart dynasty hadn't got off to a very good start. Robert II basically gave up, his son Robert III was useless and James I alienated absolutely everyone and got assassinated for his pains. Sadly, James II fared no better. Disfigured by a birthmark which earned him the nickname "Fiery Face" he was only seven when his father was killed and two years later he had to be smuggled out of Edinburgh Castle in a trunk to avoid being taken hostage or worse. For ages he was a pawn in other people's power battles, mainly between his "tutors" Crichton and Livingston, and the Douglases. Only a year later he was the nominal host of what came to be known as the "Black Dinner", organised by Chrichton, at which the teenaged Earl of Douglas and his younger brother were taken outside and beheaded. 
James took formal control of his kingdom in 1449 and spent the next 11 years trying to keep the understandably outraged Douglas clan under control. He never really managed it. Possibly remembering his childhood, in 1452 he invited the eighth Earl of Douglas to a dinner at Stirling Castle, guaranteeing him safe passage, then stabbed Douglas before his bodyguard killed him there and then. This act of base treachery outraged the whole nation and James commanded little respect thereafter. He won the ensuing civil war and Parliament ordered the forfeiture of the Douglas lands. 
James managed to reassert some control over the nobles and even got the Lords of the Isles on his side for the siege of Roxburgh castle, to take it back from the English. However, it was probably a relief to everyone when, in 1460, he was killed by an exploding cannon. The eldest of his four sons succeeded him as James III. On the positive side, he had overseen the establishment of Glasgow University in 1451.

James III  - Ruled 1460-1488 Born: 1451 Died 1488  Marriage: Margaret of Denmark  Children: three sons including James IV
Like his father, James III was only a child when he came to the throne but he had a better upbringing. He was artistic, cultured and educated but he had no time for the more robust pursuits that might be expected of a monarch in waiting. He had the reputation of being effete and was widely believed to be homosexual (although he had a girlfriend called daisy). Also like his father, he was under the influence of others during his minority - mainly Bishop Kennedy and the Boyd family. He quarreled incessantly with his brothers. One, who was Earl of Mar, was apparently` murdered and another, Duke of Albany, fled to France and returned at the head of an army to try to take the throne as Alexander IV. As James marched to meet Alexander, the King's favourite courtiers were seized and executed by hanging, including the architect Cochrane, who was uniformly reviled and unpopular. Alexander was given the title "Lieutenant of the Realm" as a sop, but was quickly exiled. James himself was imprisoned for a while by his own family, who opposed him more in sorrow than anger. His weakness and inability to learn from mistakes dogged him further. His own son, later James IV, was forced to lead a rebellion against him in 1469. After the battle of Sauchieburn the king fled but fell from his horse and was taken to a mill where he was stabbed to death by a soldier (or, some say, one of his nobles) disguised as a priest. He had, however, managed to bring Orkney and Shetland into Scotland by a prudent marriage to Margaret, daughter of Christian I of Norway and Denmark, who gave him three sons. When he died, nobody mourned much.

James IV - Ruled 1488-1513 Born: 1473 Died: 1513  Married: Margaret Tudor  Children: Arthur (died) James V
After two appalling Roberts and three disastrous Jameses, it was time for fortune to smile on Scotland. For once, the direct line produced a worthy monarch in James IV. He was sixteen when the took over and - whether by choice or out of necessity - he was firmly on the side of the nobles who had rebelled against James III. However, he wore a heavy iron chain around his waist as a reminder of and a penance for opposing his father. He had only been 15 when his father's enemies had forced him to ride with them to the Battle of Sauchieburn. He was everything his father hadn't been - energetic, manly, open-minded, brave, courteous and genuinely interested in his realm and subjects. At the very least, he learned from the mistakes of his ancestors. He was judged not to need a Regent when he ascended and quickly took control. A builder of ships and palaces rather than monasteries, he also took a close and keen interest in the mechanics of government and carefully cultivated the twin images of warrior-king and man of the people. Everywhere he went he inspired loyalty and confidence, even among the Highland chiefs and especially women he met. Under his influence, his Court became the most glamorous it had ever been or would be again. 
During his reign he stimulated the growth of learning, supported the universities (including founding Aberdeen), helped establish Scotland's first printing press under Andrew Myllar in Edinburgh, laid the foundation for Scotland's liberal and compulsory education system, supported a College of Surgeons and built up the navy. His building and rebuilding works include Linlithgow Palace, Edinburgh Castle and Stirling Castle (see pictures).

The great scholar Erasmus commented of James that he had wonderful powers of mind and an astonishing knowledge. He spoke French, Flemish, German, Italian and Spanish as well as Latin (the international language of the time) and even took the trouble to learn some Gaelic. His interest in literature, architecture, science and the law was well known and he even tried his hand at minor surgery and dentistry. James IV's reign was truly a Scottish Renaissance. He finally subdued the Lords of the Isles (taking the title for himself) and fought well in the necessary battles.
His support of Perkin Warbeck in his bid against Henry VII's throne was ill-judged but the two kings made up by James marrying Henry's daughter, Margaret, in 1503. Henry was trying to effect a Union of Crowns, little realising he was laying foundations of a Stuart dynasty in England which would later supplant the Tudors. Choosing to name his first son Arthur, born in 1509,  was a calculated move typical of James, since the boy would be the nearest claimant to the English throne after his mother, Margaret Tudor.
However, things took a turn for the worse when that other Renaissance man, Henry VIII, came to the throne of England. Henry distrusted the French influence at the Scottish court, refused to hand over his sister's dowry jewels and supported the Borders families in an uprising against James. On the other hand, James had tried to rescind the Perpetual Peace signed with Henry VII in 1502. This led to angry disputes and inevitably, to war. Allying with France, James invaded England in 1513, which earned him excommunication by the Pope. Possibly thinking Henry was occupied with his campaigns in France, and against all advice, he engaged the Earl of Sussex at Flodden Field and died there along with three bishops, eleven Earls, fifteen lords and 10,000 men, all of whom had supported him at the end even though they disagreed with him over the wisdom of it. James IV was the last British king to die in battle and it was said of him that he was "More courageous than a king ought to be". His reign marked the end of the mediaeval period and the stage was set for modern history to begin. But in leaving an heir barely a year and a half old, he had done his kingdom no great favour.

James V - Ruled 1513-1542  Born: 1512  Died: 1542  Married I: Madeleine de Valois Married II: Mary of Guise Children James (died) Arthur (died) Mary (Queen of Scots)
James V, as a mere babe in arms, was in no position to rule, so the usual Scottish muddle took over. His cousin the Duke of Albany - who was actually French - was incompetent as Regent and his mother, Henry VIII's sister Margaret Tudor, was constantly intriguing and scheming. James was kept well away from them.  Margaret's complex personal life complicated her son's childhood, and after  remarriage in 1514 and subsequent divorce from Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, the Earl kidnapped young James, held him captive for two years, showered him with gifts, introduced him to a unhealthy pleasures and generally tried to win him over. James hated and despised Douglas and when he escaped in 1528, it was with the determination to rule by himself, free from any influences. He later chased the Earl out of Scotland.
Lawlessness and misgovernment prevailed until James took over aged 17. Literate, educated (at least up to the age of 12) and cultured, he was also spoilt and immoral, fathering at least six and perhaps as many as ten illegitimate children and keeping bad company. His nobles thought him dissolute, vindictive and greedy, although the general populace seemed to like, judging from the numbers of their daughters he seduced. It was his habit to travel incognito, calling himself "the Gudeman o' Ballengeich" (a reference to Stirling where he was born) and performed many legendary acts of charity. 
They also liked the fact of the Court of Session (the central civil court) being established in 1532, which gave a semblance of equality under law. James agreed to marry Madeleine de Valois, Daughter of Francis I, king of France, in 1537, offered as thanks for his assistance to the French against Charles V. Madeleine arrived in Scotland already tubercular and died in her husband's arms after half a year and to raise money, James married Princess Mary of Guise, daughter of the Duke Of Lorraine and Guise, and possibly the wealthiest man in Europe - the dowry was immense. She was a wise choice in other ways - strong, well-built and already possessed of two healthy sons, she quickly fell pregnant to James.
This was a worrying time for the Pope, who had seen Henry VIII establish his own church in order to secure a divorce, and feared Scotland might also decide on schism. In return for commitments to Rome, James secured the rights to appoint bishops and also received handsome payments from the church. King Henry proposed a meeting at York, ostensibly to discuss Scotland adopting his views views on church matters but really to kidnap his nephew. James never came. War was declared and, despite an early success, the Scottish army was decimated at Solway Moss in 1542. The crushing defeat, added to his distress at the death of his sons the year before, the cannily-named James and Arthur, destroyed his spirit. The final straw was the news that his wife has borne him a girl. 'It cam wi' a lass and it will gang wi' a lass', he said, according to legend. This was a reference to the way the Scottish crown had come into his family through Marjorie Bruce after the death of Margaret, Maid of Norway, and that no woman could ever rule the troubled kingdom. He died at Falkland Palace, a broken man, a week after his daughter was born - the equally tragic Mary Queen of Scots. Scotland's last Catholic king was buried at Holyrood Abbey.

Mary - Ruled: 1542-1567 Born: 1542 Died: 1587 Married I: Francis, Dauphin of France Children: none  Married II: Lord Darnley  Children: James VI   Married III: Lord Bothwell 
It is likely that almost everything you have heard, read or seen in the movies about Mary is wrong, or at least a half-truth. She was a very complex character, living at a very complex time in what was about to become a very complex political milieu. Born at Linlithgow Palace on 8 December 1542, Mary became Queen when she was just a week old. As a great-granddaughter of Henry VII of England through the marriage of James IV to Margaret Tudor, Mary was next in line to the English throne after Henry VIII's children. Seeing the inherent crisis in this, the Scottish nobles decided to peace with England, and they agreed that she should marry Henry VIII's son, the future Edward VI. But as soon as the treaty was settled, Catholics opposed to the match took the young Mary to Stirling Castle, crowned her and, to Henry's rage, cancelled the arrangement. Based on Scotland's Auld Alliance and the fact that France was a Catholic country, they preferred a marriage there. Henry instigated a series of raids into Scotland known as 'The Rough Wooing', set fire to the Abbey of Holyroodhouse, the abbeys of Melrose, Jedburgh and Dryburgh in the Borders and crops in the Tweed valley and defeated the Scots at the battle of Pinkie. Mary was taken to the island priory of Inchmaholm for safety and the French were asked for help. They agreed condition that Mary be sent to France. In 1548 the Scots betrothed Mary to the the Dauphin Francis, heir to the French King Henri II, and sent her to be brought up at the French Court. This left Scotland (again!) in the hands of a Regent - initially the Earl of Arran but from 1544 her mother, Queen Mary of Guise. 
Mary was good-looking, tall, graceful and intelligent, and a great favourite at the French court. At this time, the spelling of the royal family name of Stewart changed to Stuart to suit French spelling. Mary married the Dauphin in Paris on 24 April 1558. The next year, he succeeded to the French throne, making Mary Queen of France as well as Scotland. Francis made the tactical mistake of having himself declared King of Scotland, and it became known that Mary had made a secret pact that, should she die childless, the Scottish Crown would fall to France, which did little to endear either of them to the Scots back home. This came at exactly the same time as John Knox returned to Scotland from exile and fomented the Reformation of the church. In the event, Francis died of an ear infection  in 1560, barely 18 months after taking his throne. But the damage had been done - Scotland wanted no part of a Catholic monarchy. Equally, there was a faction in England which considered Elizabeth's succession three years before to be wrong - the Catholics did not accept the legality of the marriage of Henry VIII to Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn. But the last thing Protestant England wanted was a Catholic Queen with French connections.
Mary was not on very good terms with Francis' younger brother Charles IX and in particular with Catherine de Medici, who wielded power during his minority. The following year Mary, not quite 20 years old, decided to return to Scotland, against all warnings from her friends. The reformation had made it a Protestant country, like England,  but Mary's illegitimate half-brother, Lord James Stewart (later Earl of Moray) assured her that she would be allowed to worship in her own way. On her return in  August 1561 she received an unexpectedly warm welcome from her Protestant subjects.
At the beginning, Mary's reign was successful and moderate, under the guidance of First Minister Lord James (now Earl of Moray, and a Protestant) and William Maitland of Lethington, a great diplomat. She appointed Protestant advisers and diminished the influence of French and Roman Catholic courtiers. However, she was persuaded into another marriage in 1565 to her second cousin Henry, Lord Darnley, a great-grandson of Henry VII but a Catholic. This infuriated the Scottish nobles many of whom, Moray included, sought refuge in England. The spoiled, profligate, petulant and possibly homosexual, Darnley became a puppet of Mary's enemies. On the evening of 9 March 1566, a group of conspirators burst into her chamber in the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and in front of the heavily pregnant queen, Douglas the Postulate stabbed to death her Italian secretary, David Rizzio. The bloodstain on the floor can be seen to this day, carefully enhanced by the present day Guides for the benefit of wide-eyed tourists. Authorities differ as to whether Darnley was there or whether a dagger of his was used to implicate him.  
The birth of a son to Mary and Darnley (later to become James VI) did not improve their relationship, and Darnley withdrew from the court. Earl Bothwell became a firm favourite with Mary, even presiding at James's baptism in Stirling Castle. Darnley was not even present. Soon after, Darnley was taken mysteriously ill and Mary moved him to lodgings in Kirk o' Field, just outwith the walls of Edinburgh. Apparently solicitous - she nursed him herself - she managed to be absent when, on 10 February 1567, Darnley was murdered by an explosion with gunpowder. Bothwell  was widely considered to be the main instigator of Darnley's murder with Mary implicated.
Three months later she was carried off by Bothwell to his Dunbar castle and they secretly married. This, alongside her waning popularity, led to her downfall. The Protestant nobles rose up and their armies met at Carberry Hill, near Edinburgh, on 15 June 1567. Mary surrendered, was taken to Edinburgh Castle, then to Lochleven Castle on an island in Loch Leven, Kinross, in the custody of Lady Douglas, mother of the Earl of Moray by Mary's father, James V. A casket containing eight letters and poetry, said to be in Mary's handwriting, fell into the wrong hands. These "Casket letters", if they are genuine (and they have come down to us only as translations in another hand) clearly implicate Mary in Darnley's murder. They may have been forgeries, or never existed at all, but because of them, Mary was made to abdicate in favour of her son, then a year old, with Moray as Regent. Once more, Scotland had a baby monarch and a cabal running the affairs of state.  Bothwell escaped to Dunbar, then the Orkneys, thence to Denmark, where he was arrested and imprisoned until he died.
Mary escaped from Lochleven in 1568, possibly helped by (and after a secret marriage with) George Douglas "the Postulate" but was again defeated in battle at Langside, near Glasgow, on 13 May. She sought shelter in England and a a personal audience with Queen Elizabeth I, believing that her cousin would support her. However, she was too much of a threat to the entrenched Protestants - if Elizabeth I died childless, which was looking increasingly likely, Mary would inherit the English crown. She was held captive in England for almost 20 years. Despite the legends and various Hollywood retellings, Mary and Elizabeth never met. 
A number of Catholic conspiracies against Elizabeth, especially the Babington Plot to assassinate her, led the Queen's ministers to demand Mary's execution, with the words: 'so long as there is life in her, there is hope; so as they live in hope, we live in fear'. Mary gave a good account of herself and held her own against the best lawyers and statesmen in England. If anything, this made them fear her even more. In order to forestall any more intrigues and escape attempts, Mary was moved around a great deal. Meanwhile, Elizabeth stalled signing her death warrant, doubtless mindful of the implications of one monarch executing another. Finally, the English queen's hand was forced in February 1587 and Mary was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire on 8 February, at the age of 44. She was buried in Peterborough Cathedral, but in 1612 her son, by then James I of England, had her body exhumed and placed in the vault of King Henry VII's chapel in Westminster Abbey, where it rests to this day.
Mary's story, the events surrounding the Reformation and the parts played by Mary of Guise all touch the Durie story. Click here and here for details.

*A Note on the Douglases and Duries
Sir Robert Douglas of Lochleven died in the Battle of Pinkie in 1547. he was the husband of Margaret, Lady Douglas, daughter of Lord Erskine and Mary's imprisoner. She had been the mistress of James V (by whom she had Mary Queen of Scots' half-brother, James Stewart, later Regent Moray) and was the mother by Sir Robert of Catherine Douglas, who married David Durie of that Ilk in 1557, and of George Douglas, known as Douglas the Postulate. It is said that he murdered Mary Queen of Scots lover, Rizzio, with Darnley's planted dagger and later married a Margaret Durie. He is also said to have secretly married Mary Queen of Scots.

James VI - Ruled (Scotland)1567-1625) (Britain) 1603-1625)  Born: 1566  Died: 1625  Married:   1589, Anne of Denmark Children:  three sons (including James II and VIII) and four daughters  Picture: James VI and I by Paul van Somer (c.1576-1621/2)

It's not much of a start in life, knowing your mother probably helped murder your father, if he was indeed your father, and never seeing her but knowing she was imprisoned a scant few hundred miles away. Born in Edinburgh Castle on 19 July 1566, James was the only son of Mary Queen of Scots and her second husband, Lord Darnley. James was less than a year old when he saw his mother for the last time, and thirteen months old when he was crowned King of Scotland in Stirling Castle, after Mary's enforced abdication in his favour, to a lengthy sermon by John Knox. His childhood was dominated by the power struggles of the nobles who tussled for control over the young king, with the Earl of Mar mostly gaining the upper hand. He had a solid if demanding education by his tutor George Buchanan (who also tried to teach him to hate his mother) and was advised by four Regents in succession. Seeing Court politics at first hand from his earliest days, James became shrewd, thoughtful and wary of others. His intellectual skills allowed him to juggle and pacify the squabbling nobility and he has been described as the most effective king Scotland ever had. Others had a less exalted opinion of him - David Hume wrote that his many virtues were not free from " the contagion of the neighbouring vices". Henri IV of France, hardly an unbiased observer, called James "the wisest fool in Christendom". Always a firm believer in the Divine Right of Kings to rule and in the right of his bishops to run the Church, he constantly vied with post-Reformation Protestant clergy. His answer to Calvinist protests was 'No Bishops, no King'. believing himself to be personally appointed by God, he had no need the ministry to tell him how to rule. He had little time for his nobles either, preferring to be a King of Commoners, not Nobility.
Intrigue and counter-plot dominated his early life and on one occasion, in 1582, he was kidnapped from Ruthven Castle by one faction but freed soon after by another. He was aware from his earliest days that he was a valuable commodity - the most likely successor to Elizabeth I for the throne of England - and so did little to rock the boat of international diplomacy. He made the expected formal protest when Elizabeth signed Mary's execution warrant in 1587, but never raised an army or even threatened to. 
In 1589, he married Anne, Princess of Denmark. Returning with her by sea, a storm blew up in the Forth, which was laid at the feet of witches from North Berwick, probably egged on by the increasingly desperate Earl Bothwell, his mother's third husband and no friend to the king. James took a strong and personally interest in the trials. James and Anne had seven children, but gradually drifted apart. 
On 24 March 1603 James inherited the throne of England and moved south almost immediately, taking his favourite Scots courtiers with him. He would have liked the two kingdoms to be completely united, but Scotland already had - and wished to retain - its distinctive parliament, established Church, legal and educational systems, customs and culture. James enjoyed the pomp and circumstance of the English court, and returned to Scotland only once, in 1617. He liked to boast that he now ruled his northern kingdom with a stroke of his pen, but in his later years he lost something of his grasp of the Scottish situation. When he forced through the 1618 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland his Five Articles of Perth, measures intended to bring the worship and government of the Church of Scotland into line with the Church of England, he met with strong opposition. Realising that he had made an error of judgement, he did not enforce the Articles, and did not try again to introduce ecclesiastical innovations. He died on 27 March 1625. 

James I (King of Scotland as James VI 1567-1625)  1603-1625

Charles I  1625-1649

Commonwealth
1649-1659

Oliver Cromwell (Lord Protector) 1653-1658

Richard Cromwell (Lord Protector) 1658-1659

House of Stuart
1660-1714

Charles II  1660-1685

James II  1685-1688

William III of Orange and Mary II (jointly)  1689-1694

William III (alone) 1694-1702