Friday, July 19, 2013

Opening paragraphs..............................

On 14 October 1285 Alexander III, King of Scotland, married as his second wife Yolande of Dreux, descended from Count Robert I of Dreux, a son of Louis VI of France.   It was a marriage welcomed by his subjects.  His first wife Margaret, daughter of Henry III of England, had died in 1275 having borne for her husband a daughter and two sons, Margaret, Alexander, and David.  But within the space of three years all were dead:  the younger son in 1281 unmarried, the elder in 1284 without issue and in 1283 the daughter, who was married to Erik II, King of Norway, died in childbirth leaving as heir to the Scottish and Norwegian thrones a sickly infant Margaret, the Maid of Norway.  The succession stood in jeopardy.
-Ronald McNair Scott,  Robert The Bruce:  King of Scots

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