Scotland: Political History and Notable Figures

1249 - 1286 - Alexander III (All Facts)

• Under his reign, Norway ceded the Hebrides and Isle of Man to Scotland

1292 - 1296 - John Balliol (All Facts)

• King of Scotland

• He and his forces were defeated by King Edward and his English forces in the Battle of Dunbar during the First War of Scottish Independence

1270 - 1305 - William Wallace (All Facts)

• Knight who led the Scottish during the First Scottish War of Independence

  • He and his forces defeated King Edward and his English forces in the Battle of Stirling Bridge

1306 - 1329 - Robert the Bruce (All Facts)

• King of Scotland who led the Scottish during the First Scottish War of Independence

  • He and his forces successfully restored the Kingdom of Scotland from England

  • He is considered a national hero of Scotland

• He and his forces defeated Edward II and his English forces in the Battle of Bannockburn, ending the First Scottish War of Independence

1329 - 1371 - David II the Bruce (All Facts)

• King of Scotland

• He was supported by King Philip VI of France against the English during the Second Scottish War for Independence

1371 - 1390 - Robert II (All Facts)

• King of Scotland, he was the First King and Founder of the House of Stuart

  • He was the nephew of his predecessor

1460 - 1488 - James III (All Facts)

• King of Scotland

• He married Margaret, daughter of King Christian of Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, and Denmark) in exchange for the territories of Orkney and Shetland

1488 - 1513 - James IV (All Facts)

• King of Scotland

• He and his forces were defeated by the English in the Battle of Flodden during the War of the Holy League during the Italian Wars

  • After the battle, he was killed

  • He was succeeded by his one-year-old son

1513 - 1542 - James V (All Facts)

• King of Scotland

  • His mother Margaret, sister of King Henry VIII of England, ruled as regent when he assumed the throne at one year of age

• He refused to join in his uncle King Henry VIII of England’s English Reformation, causing King Henry VIII to invade Scotland

• Under his reign,

  • The Scottish were defeated by the English in the Battle of Solway Moss as a result of King Henry VIII’s invasion of Scotland

• He died shortly after the Battle of Solway Moss and was succeeded by his one-year-old daughter

1542 - 1567 - Mary (All Facts)

• Queen of Scotland

  • Her mother, Mary of Guise, ruled as regent when she assumed the throne at one year of age

  • Her father, James V preceded her reign

• She married King Francis II of France, the French dauphin at the time of their marriage, further strengthening her Catholic rule

  • When King Francis II of France died, she returned to Scotland, in which she found the Scottish nobility bitterly opposed to her Roman Catholicism

• She then married Henry Stuart, the earl of Darnley, who was known to have murdered David Rizzio

• She then married James Hepburn, the earl of Bothwell, who was known to have murdered her previous husband Henry Stuart

• Under her reign,

  • Scotland’s Parliament rejected the Treaty of Greenwich proposed by England’s Parliament due to the previous Scottish defeat in the Battle of Solway Moss, thus initiating the “Rough Wooing,” which, under her reign included

    • The Burning of Edinburgh

  • Scotland’s Parliament accepted the Scots Confession, John Knox’s Protestant Confession of Faith

  • Rebellion broke out against her due to her attempts to suppress Scottish Protestant reformers

• When her forces, commanded by her husband James Hepburn, were defeated by the Protestant Scottish nobility in the Battle of Carberry Hill, she was imprisoned, and forced to abdicate and was succeeded by her one-year-old son

• When her forces, commanded by the “Queen’s men” were defeated by the Protestant “King’s men” in the Battle of Langside, she fled to England where she was imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth of England

  • She spent the next 20 years in England as a political refugee after her various intrigues, marriages, and the murder of one husband by her next-in-line; all of which contributed to her having been driven from Scotland

• She was executed at Fotheringhay in Northamptonshire in England on the orders of Queen Elizabeth of England

  • She had been found guilty of joining the Babington Plot, a conspiracy to murder Queen Elizabeth of England and promote a Spanish invasion of England

  • She was more likely executed for proclaiming her Catholicism to the end and raising her voice in Latin to drown the prayers of the English chaplain

1565 - 1567 - Henry Stuart (All Facts)

• King of Scotland

  • He was the second husband of Queen Mary of Scotland

  • He was previously Earl of Darnley and upon assuming the throne became Lord Darnley

• He was known to have murdered David Rizzio

• He was killed when his house was blown up by gunpowder by James Hepburn

1567 - James Hepburn (All Facts)

• King of Scotland

  • He was the third husband of Queen Mary of Scotland

• Earl of Bothwell

• He was acquitted in a mock trial for the murder of Henry Stuart

• He and his forces were defeated by the Protestant Scottish nobility in the Battle of Carberry Hill

1567 - 1625 - James VI (All Facts)

• King of Scotland

  • James Stewart, the 1st Earl of Moray ruled as regent since he assumed the throne at one year of age

1567 - 1570 - James Stewart (All Facts)

• First Earl of Moray

  • He ruled as regent for King James VI of Scotland when he was an infant

• He was assassinated

1649 - 1651 / 1660 - 1685 - Charles II (All Facts)

• King of Scotland

  • His father and predecessor was executed upon his assumption to the throne

  • He was crowned at Scone

• He and his forces were defeated by Oliver Cromwell in the Battle of Worcester during the Third English Civil War

  • He then escaped and fled to France

1600 - 1682 - David Leslie (All Facts)

• He was the First Lord of Newark

• He and his forces were defeated by Oliver Cromwell and the English in the Battle of Dunbar during the Third English Civil War

1629 -1685 - Archibald Campbell (All Facts)

• He was the 9th Earl of Argyll

• He led his Argyll Rebellion against and in attempt to overthrow the (Catholic) King James II of England / King James VII of Scotland

• His rebellion failed and he was beheaded as a result