One thing that interested me about the Battle of Largs was that it was the first major act by Scotland’s King Alexander III. Yet he had been King of Scots for fourteen years since he was seven years old. Naturally, that means that for none of that time did he have the powers of a king.
He was the son of King Alexander II, born at Roxburgh Castle, Scotland, and a direct descendent of King Malcolm Canmore. His father had forced the Norse out of the last area they controlled in mainland Scotland and died on his way to confront their hegemony that claimed all the islands off the coast of Scotland. Alexander II had a successful rule that left Scotland politically and financially in a position for continued growth.
There is a reason the Bible says, “Woe to you, O land whose king is a child, and whose princes feast in the morning.” The two factions of regents fought like rats in a sack, one faction supported by Alexander’s father-in-law, Henry III of England, and the other supported by the extremely powerful Comyn family.
That Alexander was married to Henry III’s daughter gave the English king a legitimate interest in what was happening in Scotland, although he may have hoped, as some claim, that he could eventually convince or force Alexander to agree to English suzerainty over Scotland. Ten-year-old Alexander had firmly refused to do that when he married Henry’s daughter, Margaret, in 1251. At any rate, Henry did nothing to enforce such a suzerainty, so such claims are pure speculation.
In 1255, a party favored by the English king seized Alexander and Margaret, keeping them prisoners in Edinburgh Castle. Two years later, the Comyn-led party seized the royal couple and kept them at Roxburgh Castle. Frankly, I see little to choose between the two factions, both of which were more concerned about their own wealth and power than the young king and queen.
But even regencies come to an end. In 1262, Alexander gained his majority and immediately took over the management of his own government. He immediately moved to complete his father’s work in expanding the Kingdom of Scotland, sending negotiators to Norway’s King Haakon IV. Haakon was a formidable man who had greatly increased Norway’s power, including subjugating Iceland and Greenland to Norwegian rule and using his fleet to force domination of the Baltic Sea trade. He had no intention of giving up the many isles in Scotland’s waters that owed fealty to him.
Many articles about the Battle of Largs state that Haakon brought his fleet, more than a hundred warships, to Scotland to protect the Hebrides and Shetland. This ignores the fact that Alexander Stewart had seized the Isle of Bute in the Firth of Clyde in the southwestern waters of Scotland. One Rudri, who was the Norseman with a claim by birth as Lord of Bute, went to King Haakon begging help. The isle was important in control of western trade routes near Ireland, so Haakon had a double interest in regaining it.
Bute was where Haakon promptly sailed his fleet. There was a skirmish at Rothesay Castle, and Haakon re-subjugated the island, giving the lordship to Rudri. At the same time, part of the Norse fleet was savaging the area around Loch Lomond.
By that time, King Alexander had raised a substantial army, including many mounted and armored knights and infantry. When Haakon’s fleet was forced onto the Scottish mainland by a severe storm, they were met with appropriate force. The Battle of Largs seems to have been inconclusive, but the results were bad enough for King Haakon that he immediately fled for the Hebrides. He died there of a fever.
The Scots promptly re-subjugated the Isle of Bute.
The threat of the Scottish army caused the lord of the Isle of Man, sworn to Haakon, to submit. King Alexander then turned his attention to Aonghus Mór mac Domhnaill, Lord of the Isles, who, after a minor battle, submitted to Alexander. The Western Isles were quickly coming under his sway. In 1267 recognizing reality, Haakon’s successor ‘sold’ the Western Isles to King Alexander. At that point, Alexander had succeeded in expanding Scotland to what would be very recognizable as the Scotland we know today.
Henry III was having his own problems in England, but Scottish relations between England and Scotland remained peaceful, with extensive trade in both directions. Having achieved peace with Norway, Scotland’s northern trade and its trade with the Low Country blossomed as well.
King Alexander and Queen Margaret mostly lived at Roxburgh Castle, where they had a daughter, Margaret. The year following the success at the Battle of Largs, Prince Alexander was born, and a few years later, another son, David.
When Queen Margaret died, Alexander showed no interest in remarrying, enjoying the company of many women to the disapproval of certain priestly chroniclers. Instead, he concentrated on marriages for his children. Young Margaret was married to King Eric II of Norway. David died when he was only nine, but the king negotiated a marriage for Prince Alexander to the daughter of Guy, Count of Flanders. The couple were married on November 14, 1282, at Roxburgh Castle. The future of Scotland seemed secure.
Everything changed in January 1284, when twenty-year-old Prince Alexander suddenly died. His young wife was not with child and his sister, the Queen of Norway, had recently died giving birth to a daughter, now King Alexander’s only heir. In desperation, Alexander hurriedly remarried.
It may well have been that desperation for a new heir that caused him to risk riding through a storm to spend the night with his new bride on the 19th of March 1286. In the storm, he became separated from his men. His horse probably threw him as he rode along a steep, stony slope. The next day, a search discovered his body. Alexander left his kingdom independent, united, and prosperous with many trade links, a situation that did not last long, thanks to the greed of King Edward I.
