Carney & Wehofer Family
 Genealogy Pages

King Robert II Of SCOTLAND

King Robert II Of SCOTLAND

Male 1316 - 1390  (74 years)

Personal Information    |    Media    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name Robert II Of SCOTLAND  [1
    Prefix King 
    Christened 1316  Paisley Abbey, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Born 2 Mar 1316  Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Gender Male 
    Affiliation   [2
    House of Stewart - Founder 
    Restored to The Line of Succession Jul 1326  Cambuskenneth Abbey, Stirlingshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    David Bruce became heir to the throne of Scotland upon his birth on 5 March 1324, displacing his nephew from the line of succession. However, 2 heirs are better than only one, and the death of David's twin brother John reminded everyone how fragile baby's 
    DUNDONALD CASTLE 1371  Dundonald, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Robert Stewart built Dundonald Castle in 1371, probably to mark his accession to the throne as Robert II, and as a safe place for his family to live. 
    Ascension to Throne 22 Feb 1371  [2
    FamilySearch ID LHW6-FV7 
    TitleOfNobility   [2
    Grandson of Robert, The Bruce, 1st Monarch of the House of Stewart, 15 issue, succeeded his uncle King David II) 
    TitleOfNobility   [2
    King of Scotland, Guardian of Scotland, High Steward of Scotland, Earl of Atholl, Earl of Strathearn 
    TitleOfNobility Between 22 Feb 1371 and 19 Apr 1390  [2
    35th King of Scotland - reigned for 19 years 
    Name Robert STEWART  [2
    Name Robert STEWART  [2
    Religion   [2
    Roman Catholic 
    Died 19 Apr 1390  Dundonald Castle, Kyle, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Buried 24 Apr 1390  Scone Priory, Old Scone, Perthshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Person ID I594767539  Carney Wehofer 2024 Genealogy
    Last Modified 2 Jan 2023 

    Father Walter STEWART,   b. 1296, Dundonald Castle, Kyle, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 9 Apr 1326, Bathgate Castle, Bathgate, Linlithgow, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 30 years) 
    Mother Princess Marjory Of SCOTLAND,   b. 12 Dec 1296, Cardross, Dunbartonshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 2 Mar 1316, Paisley Abbey, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 19 years) 
    Married 1315  Dundonald, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Family ID F219  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Elizabeth MURE, of Rowallan,   b. 2 Mar 1320, Rowallan Castle, Kilmaurs, AYR, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1354, Dundonald Castle, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 33 years) 
    Married 1348  Dundonald, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Children 
     1. Lady Margaret STEWART, Princess of Scotland,   b. 1336, Dundonald Castle, Kyle, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 6 May 1410, Lochaline, Argyll, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 74 years)
     2. King Robert III STEWART, of Scotland,   b. 14 Aug 1337, Dundonald Castle, Kyle, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 4 Apr 1406, Rothesay Castle, Rothesay, Bute, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 68 years)
     3. Walter STEWART, Earl of Fife,   b. 1338, Dundonald Castle, Kyle, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 22 Aug 1362, Stirling Castle, Stirling, Stirlingshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 24 years)
     4. Sir Robert STEWART, 1st Duke of Albany,   b. 1 Jul 1340, Dundonald Castle, Kyle, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 3 Sep 1420, Stirling Castle, Stirlingshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 80 years)
     5. Marjorie STEWART, Princess of Scotland, Countess of Moray,   b. 1342, Dundonald Castle, Kyle, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 6 May 1417, Darnaway, Morayshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 75 years)
     6. Alexander STEWART, 1st Earl of Buchan,   b. 14 Jun 1343, Dundonald Castle, Kyle, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 24 Jul 1394, Highland, Scotland, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 51 years)
     7. Elizabeth STEWART, Princess of Scotland, Baroness Hay of Erroll,   b. 1346, Dundonald Castle, Kyle, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1389, Kinnoul Castle, Perth, Perthshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 43 years)
     8. Isabel Eupheme STEWART,   b. 1348, Dundonald Castle, Kyle, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 26 Oct 1410, Douglas, Lanarkshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 62 years)
     9. Jean STEWART, Princess of Scotland,   b. 1351, Dundonald Castle, Kyle, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1404, Scone, Perthshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 53 years)
     10. Katherine STEWART, Princess of Scotland,   b. 1352, Dundonald Castle, Kyle, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1446, Crawford or Clydesdale, Lanarkshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 94 years)
    Last Modified 2 Jan 2023 
    Family ID F536728946  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 2 Moira DE LECHE,   b. 2 Mar 1320, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1356, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 35 years) 
    Children 
     1. Sir John STEWART, "The Black Stewart," Heritable 1st Sheriff of Bute,   b. Abt 1350, Dundonald, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 24 May 1441, Stirling, Stirlingshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 91 years)
    Last Modified 2 Jan 2023 
    Family ID F536728947  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 3 Euphemia De ROSS,   b. Abt 1334, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Abt 1387  (Age ~ 53 years) 
    Married 2 May 1355 
    Children 
     1. Princess Elizabeth Or Catherine STEWART,   d. Yes, date unknown
     2. Walter STEWART, 1st Earl of Atholl,   b. Abt 1360, Dundonald Castle, Kyle, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 26 Mar 1437, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 77 years)
     3. David STEWART, Earl of Strathearn,   b. 1357, Dundonald, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 5 Mar 1389, Strathearn, Perthshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 32 years)
     4. Princess Egidia STUART, Of Scottland,   b. 1368, Dundonald Castle, Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1388, Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 20 years)
    Last Modified 2 Jan 2023 
    Family ID F217  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Photos
    Dundonald Castle where he died
    Dundonald Castle where he died

  • Notes 
    • Robert II (2 March 1316 ? 19 April 1390) was King of Scots from 1371 to his death in 1390. He was the first monarch of the House of Stewart as the son of Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, and of Marjorie Bruce, daughter of the Scottish king Robert the Bruce by his first wife Isabella of Mar.

      In 1336, he first married Elizabeth Mure, daughter of Sir Adam Mure of Rowallan. The marriage was criticized for being uncanonical, so he remarried her in 1349 after receiving a papal dispensation in 1347.
      From this union, ten children reached adulthood:
      - John, who became King of Scotland as Robert III, married Anabella Drummond.
      - Walter, husband of Isabella MacDuff, Countess of Fife.
      - Robert, Earl of Fife and Duke of Albany, married Margaret Graham, Countess of Menteith, and 2nd Muriella Keith.
      - Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, "The Wolf of Badenoch", married Euphemia of Ross.
      - Margaret, married John of Islay, Lord of the Isles.
      - Marjorie, married John Dunbar, Earl of Moray, then Sir Alexander Keith.
      - Elizabeth married Thomas de la Hay, Lord High Constable of Scotland.
      - Isabella, married James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas, and 2nd John Edmonstone of Edmonstone.
      - Johanna (Jean), married Sir John Keith, then 2nd John Lyon, Lord of Glamis and 3rd Sir James Sandilands.
      - Katherine, married Sir Robert Logan of Grugar and Restalrig, Lord High Admiral of Scotland.

      In 1355, Robert married his second wife Euphemia de Ross, daughter of Hugh, Earl of Ross. They had four children:
      - David Stewart, Earl of Strathearn, born about 1356 and died in 1389.
      - Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl, born about 1360, beheaded at Edinburgh in 1437 for being involved in the assassination of King James I.
      - Elizabeth, married in 1380 David Lindsay, 1st Earl of Crawford.
      - Egidia, married William Douglas of Nithsdale.


      [Information added by OldeBruce in April 2022:
      Edward Bruce, younger brother of Robert the Bruce, was named heir to the throne but he died without legitimate children on 3 December 1318 in a battle near Dundalk in Ireland. Marjorie by this time had died in a riding accident ? probably in 1317. Parliament decreed her infant son, Robert Stewart, as heir presumptive, but this lapsed on 5 March 1324 on the birth of a son, David, to King Robert and his second wife, Elizabeth de Burgh. Robert Stewart inherited the title of High Steward of Scotland on his father's death on 9 April 1326, and a Parliament held in July 1326 confirmed the young Steward as heir should Prince David die without a successor. In 1329 King Robert I died and the six-year-old David succeeded to the throne with Sir Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray appointed Guardian of Scotland.

      Edward Balliol, son of King John Balliol, assisted by the English and Scottish nobles disinherited by Robert I, invaded Scotland inflicting heavy defeats on the Bruce party on 11 August 1332 at Dupplin Moor and Halidon Hill on 19 July 1333. Robert fought at Halidon, where his uncle and former guardian, Sir James Stewart, was killed. Following this battle, Robert's lands in the west were given by Balliol to his supporter David Strathbogie, the titular Earl of Atholl. Robert took refuge in the fortress of Dumbarton Castle in the Clyde estuary to join his uncle, King David. In May 1334 David escaped to France leaving Robert and John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray as joint Guardians of the kingdom. Robert succeeded in regaining his lands but following Randolph's capture by the English in July 1335, his possessions were once again targeted by the forces of Balliol and King Edward III of England. This may have persuaded Robert to submit to Balliol and the English king and may explain his removal as Guardian by September 1335. The Guardianship transferred to Sir Andrew Murray of Bothwell but following his death in 1338 Robert was re-appointed and retained the office until King David returned from France in June 1341. Robert accompanied David into battle at Neville's Cross on 17 October 1346 but he and Patrick Dunbar, Earl of March escaped or fled the field and David was taken prisoner. In October 1357, the king was ransomed for 100,000 marks to be paid in installments over ten years.

      Robert joined a rebellion against David in 1363 but submitted to him following a threat to his right of succession. In 1364, David presented a proposal to Parliament that would cancel the remaining ransom debt if it was agreed that a Plantagenet heir would inherit the Scottish throne should he die without issue. This was rejected and Robert succeeded to the throne at the age of 55 following David's unexpected death in 1371. England still controlled large sectors in the Lothians and in the border country so King Robert allowed his southern earls to engage in actions in the English zones to regain their territories, halted trade with England and renewed treaties with France. By 1384, the Scots had re-taken most of the occupied lands, but following the commencement of Anglo-French peace talks, Robert was reluctant to commit Scotland to all-out war and obtained Scotland's inclusion in the peace treaty. Robert's peace strategy was a factor in the virtual coup in 1384 when he lost control of the country, first to his eldest son, John, Earl of Carrick, afterwards King Robert III, and then from 1388 to John's younger brother, Robert, Earl of Fife, afterwards the first Duke of Albany. Robert II died in Dundonald Castle in 1390 and was buried at Scone Abbey.

      Heir presumptive
      Robert Stewart, born in 1316, was the only child of Walter Stewart, High Steward of Scotland and King Robert I's daughter Marjorie Bruce, who died probably in 1317 following a riding accident.[1] He had the upbringing of a Gaelic noble on the Stewart lands in Bute, Clydeside, and in Renfrew.[1] In 1315 parliament removed Marjorie's right as heir to her father in favour of her uncle, Edward Bruce.[2] Edward was killed at the Battle of Faughart, near Dundalk on 14 October 1318,[3] resulting in a hastily arranged Parliament in December to enact a new entail naming Marjorie's son, Robert, as heir should the king die without a successor.[4] The birth of a son, afterwards David II, to King Robert on 5 March 1324 cancelled Robert Stewart's position as heir presumptive, but a Parliament at Cambuskenneth in July 1326 restored him in the line of succession should David die without an heir.[2] This reinstatement of his status was accompanied by the gift of lands in Argyll, Roxburghshire and the Lothians.[5]

      The first war of independence began in the reign of King John Balliol.[6] His short reign was bedeviled by Edward I's insistence on his overlordship of Scotland. The Scottish leadership concluded that only war could release the country from the English king's continued weakening of Balliol's sovereignty and so finalised a treaty of reciprocal assistance with France in October 1295.[7] The Scots forayed into England in March 1296? this incursion together with the French treaty angered the English king and provoked an invasion of Scotland taking Berwick on 30 March before defeating the Scots army at Dunbar on 27 April.[8] John Balliol submitted to Edward and resigned the throne to him before being sent to London as a prisoner. Despite this, resistance to the English led by William Wallace and Andrew Moray had emerged in the name of King John Balliol.[8] On their deaths, Robert the Bruce continued to resist the English and eventually succeeded in defeating the forces of Edward II of England and gained the Scottish throne for himself.[7]

      David Bruce, aged five, became king on 7 June 1329 on the death of his father Robert. Walter the Steward had died earlier on 9 April 1327,[9] and the orphaned eleven-year-old Robert was placed under the guardianship of his uncle, Sir James Stewart of Durrisdeer,[2] who along with Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, and William Lindsey, Archdeacon of St Andrews were appointed as joint Guardians of the kingdom.[10] David's accession kindled the second independence war which threatened Robert's position as heir.[11] In 1332 Edward Balliol, son of the deposed John Balliol, spearheaded an attack on the Bruce sovereignty with the tacit support of King Edward III of England and the explicit endorsement of 'the disinherited'.[12] Edward Balliol's forces delivered heavy defeats on the Bruce supporters at Dupplin Moor on 11 August 1332 and again at Halidon Hill on 19 July 1333, at which the 17-year-old Robert participated.[10] Robert's estates were overrun by Balliol, who granted them to David Strathbogie, titular earl of Atholl, but Robert evaded capture and gained protection at Dumbarton Castle where King David was also taking refuge.[11] Very few other strongholds remained in Scottish hands in the winter of 1333? only the castles of Kildrummy (held by Christian Bruce, elder sister of Robert I and wife of Andrew Murray of Bothwell), Loch Leven, Loch Doon, and Urquhart held out against Balliol forces.[13]

      Dairsie Castle where the 1335 Parliament was held
      In May 1334, the situation looked dire for the house of Bruce and David II gained safety in France. Robert set about winning back his lands in the west of Scotland.

      Was in command of the second division of the Scotch Army at Halidon Hill, and was one of the few who escaped the carnage of that disastrous day. See Europ?isch Stammtafeln Band II tafel 69. There is some confusion over which daughter is which and who are their mothers which still needs some clarification.

      Robert II (2 March 1316 ? 19 April 1390) was King of Scots from 1371 to his death in 1390. He was the first monarch of the House of Stewart as the son of Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, and of Marjorie Bruce, daughter of the Scottish king Robert the Bruce by his first wife Isabella of Mar.

      Edward Bruce, younger brother of Robert the Bruce, was named heir presumptive but died without heirs on 3 December 1318. Marjorie Bruce had died probably in 1317 in a riding accident and parliament decreed her infant son, Robert Stewart, as heir presumptive, but this lapsed on 5 March 1324 on the birth of a son, David, to King Robert and his second wife, Elizabeth de Burgh. Robert Stewart became High Steward of Scotland on his father's death on 9 April 1327, and in the same year parliament confirmed the young Steward as heir should Prince David die without a successor. In 1329 King Robert I died and the six-year-old David succeeded to the throne under the guardianship of Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray.

  • Sources 
    1. [S1160] FamilySearch Family Tree (http://www.familysearch.org), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ((http://www.familysearch.org)), accessed 2 Jan 2023), entry for Robert III Stewart, person ID LZ86-T6V. (Reliability: 3).

    2. [S1160] FamilySearch Family Tree (http://www.familysearch.org), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ((http://www.familysearch.org)), accessed 2 Jan 2023), entry for Robert II Of SCOTLAND, person ID LHW6-FV7. (Reliability: 3).

    3. [S1160] FamilySearch Family Tree (http://www.familysearch.org), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ((http://www.familysearch.org)), accessed 2 Jan 2023), entry for Walter STEWART, person ID L8MB-CP1. (Reliability: 3).