The House of Stewart
When the house of the great Robert the Bruce (1306-1329) failed in the male line in 1371, the throne of Scotland passed to his grandson in the female line, Robert Stewart, son of his daughter Marjorie Bruce and Walter Stewart and first of the romantic but ill-starred royal House of Stewart.
The earliest recorded member of the House of Stewart was Flaald I, who was of Breton origins and was employed in the serice of the eleventh century Lord of Dol and Combourg. Flaald and his immediate descendants held the hereditary and honorary post of Dapifer, or food bearer in the Lord of Dol's household.
Robert II's grandson, James I (1406-1437), was to prove one of the ablest of Scotland's kings. When his great-great grandson James V (1513-1542) failed to produce a surviving male heir the crown was inherited by his daughter, the last scion of the House of Stewart, the beautiful but tragic Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1567).
Time line of the Stewart dynasty. Click to enlarge.
Mary was suspected of complicity in the murder of her ineffectual husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and later alienated the Scottish lords by her subsequent marriage to James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, widely believed to be his murderer and was forced to abdicate. She ended her days under the executioners axe at Fotheringhay on the orders of her English cousin, Elizabeth I.
The claims to the thrones of Scotland and England were eventually united in the person of her son, James I & VI (1603-1625) , first monarch of the House of Stuart and the first king of all Britain.
Monarchs of the House of Stewart
| Monarch | Birth & Reign | Married | |
| Robert II |  |
b. 1316 son of- Walter Stewart & Marjorie Bruce r. 1371-1390 |
Elizabeth Mure of Rowallan |
| Robert III |  |
b. c1340 son of- Robert II & Elizabeth Mure r.1390-1406 |
Annabella Drummond |
| James I |  |
b. 1394 son of- Robert III &Annabella Drummond r.1406-1437 |
Joan Beaufort |
| James II |  |
b.1430 son of- James I & Joan Beaufort r.1437 - 1460 |
Mary of Gueldres |
| James III |  |
b.1451 son of- James II & Mary of Gueldres r.1460-1488 |
Margaret of Denmark |
| James IV |  |
b.1473 son of- James III &Margaret of Denmark r. 1488-1513 |
Margaret Tudor |
| James V |  |
b.1512 son of- James IV &Margaret Tudor r.1513-1542 |
(1)Madeleine of France (2)Mary of Guise |
| Mary, Queen of Scots |  |
b.1543 daughter of James V & Mary of Guise r. 1542-1567 |
(1)Francis II of France (2)Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (3)James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell |