Alexander II of Scotland
Alexander II (Medieval Gaelic: Alaxandair mac Uilliam; Modern Gaelic: Alasdair mac Uilleim; 24 August 1198 – 6 July 1249) was King of Alba (Scotland) from 1214 until his death. He concluded the Treaty of York (1237) which defined the boundary between England and Scotland, virtually unchanged today.
Alexander II
4 December 1214 – 6 July 1249
6 December 1214
24 August 1198
Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland
6 July 1249 (aged 50)
Kerrera, Scotland
Alexander III of Scotland
Marjorie (illegitimate)
Early life[edit]
Alexander was born at Haddington, East Lothian, the only son of the Scottish king William the Lion and Ermengarde de Beaumont.[1] He was forced to spend time in England under the terms of the Treaty of Falaise, and (John of England knighted him at Clerkenwell Priory in 1213) before he returned home. He succeeded to the kingdom on the death of his father on 4 December 1214, being crowned at Scone on 6 December the same year.
At the time of his accession, his sisters Isabella and Margaret had been sent to England as hostages to King John.[2] He appealed to John through the Magna Carta, which promised to deal with the rights of Alexander and his family.[3]
Family[edit]
Alexander II had two wives:
1. Joan of England (22 July 1210 – 4 March 1238), who was the eldest legitimate daughter and third child of John of England and Isabella of Angoulême. She and Alexander II married on 21 June 1221, at York Minster. Alexander was 23; Joan was 11. They had no children. Joan died in Essex in 1238 and was buried at Tarant Crawford Abbey in Dorset;
2. Marie de Coucy, who became mother of Alexander III of Scotland.
He also had an illegitimate daughter, Marjorie, who married Alan Durward.
Alexander II has been depicted in historical novels:
Sources[edit]
Parsons, John Carmi (1977). The Court and Household of Eleanor of Castile in 1290. Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies.