Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar
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| Alexander Stewart Alasdair mac Alasdair Mór |
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| Earl of Mar, and Lord of Garioch, Lochaber and Badenoch | |
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| Reign | Mar and Garioch: 1404/8–35 Lochaber: 1424–35 Badenoch: 1427–35 |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1375 |
| Died | July/August, 1435 |
| Place of death | Mar |
| Buried | Blackfriars, Inverness |
| Predecessor | Isabella of Mar* *obtained lordship of Mar by this marriage. |
| (heir) Thomas Stewart († 1430, predeceasing Alexander) | |
| Successor | None |
| Consort | Isabella of Mar Marie van Hoorn |
| Issue | Thomas Stewart (bastard) |
| Royal House | Badenoch Stewart |
| Father | Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan |
| Mother | Mairead inghean Eachann |
Alexander Stewart (c. 1375 – 1435), Earl of Mar, was an illegitimate son of Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan and probably Mairead inghean Eachainn.[1] [2]
Alexander held the Earldom of Mar and the Lordship of the Garioch first in right of his wife Isabel Douglas, Countess of Mar (d. 1408). Alexander's marriage to Isabella followed his capture of Kildrummy Castle, and Isabella with it, in 1404. His possession of the Earldom was regularised in 1424 by grant of King James I. He led the so-called "Lowland" army, in fact that of the north-east and eastern Highlands, against Domhnall of Islay, Lord of the Isles at the bloody and indecisive battle of Harlaw. Unlike his father, who had been unable to keep the peace in the fractious north-east, Alexander, Walter Bower says, "ruled with acceptance nearly all of the north of the country beyond the Mounth".[3] He achieved this not by using different methods from his father but by his ability to keep his cateran forces in check and to use them to protect his extensive lands when needed; the result was that the lowland areas of Aberdeenshire and Moray were protected.[4]
Alexander remarried with Marie van Hoorn, daughter of Willem, Lord of Duffel, in 1410, but died without issue and the Earldom of Mar passed to the crown.
[edit] Notes
- ^ David Ditchburn, ‘Stewart, Alexander, earl of Mar (c.1380–1435)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2005 accessed 1 Aug 2007
- ^ Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Family: A Complete Genealogy p. 220 (London, UK: The Bodley Head, 1999)
- ^ Grant, p. 157.
- ^ Boardman, pp. 265,266
[edit] References
- Boardman, Stephen I.,The Early Stewart Kings: Robert II and Robert III Edinburgh, Reprint 2007. ISBN 978-1-904607-68-7
- Grant, Alexander, "The Wolf of Badenoch" in W.D.H. Sellar (ed.), Moray: Province and People. Scottish Society for Northern Studies, Edinburgh, 1993. ISBN 0-9505994-7-6
- Nigel Tranter, The Stewart Trilogy, Dunton Green, Sevenoaks, Kent : Coronet Books, 1986. ISBN 0-3403-9115-4. Lords of Misrule, 1388-1396. A Folly of Princes, 1396-1402. The Captive Crown, 1402-1411.
