Alexander II of Scotland

Alexander II
Great Seal of Alexander II
King of Alba (Scotland)
Reign	4 December 1214 – 8 July 1249
Inauguration	6 December 1214
Predecessor	William I
Successor	Alexander III
Born	24 August 1198 Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland
Died	8 July 1249(1249-07-08) (aged 50) Kerrera, Scotland
Burial	Melrose Abbey
Spouses	Joan of England ​ ​ (m. 1221; died 1238)​ Marie de Coucy ​ (m. 1239)​
Issue	Alexander III of Scotland Marjorie (illegitimate)
House	Dunkeld
Father	William the Lion
Mother	Ermengarde de Beaumont

Alexander II (Medieval Gaelic: Alaxandair mac Uilleim; Modern Gaelic: Alasdair mac Uilleim) (1198–1249) was King of Scots from 1214 until his death. He was the only son of King William the Lion and Ermengarde de Beaumont, and inherited the throne at the age of sixteen. His early reign was shaped by the volatile politics of the British Isles, including his support for the English barons against John, King of England during the First Barons’ War. Although his involvement was halted by John’s death in 1216, Alexander strengthened his position through diplomacy, marrying Joan of England, John’s daughter, in 1221. This deepened ties between the Scottish and English crowns.

Domestically, Alexander endeavoured to consolidate royal authority and suppress internal dissent. He crushed uprisings in Ross, Moray and Galloway, reinforcing his control over territories that had long resisted central rule. His reign also saw efforts to extend Scottish influence westward, particularly in Argyll and the Hebrides, where Norse influence remained strong. Alexander’s policies reflected a will to secure Scotland’s frontiers and assert sovereignty over contested regions, striking a balance between military campaigns and negotiated settlements. His government laid the foundations for stability after the turbulence of his father's long reign and delivered a stronger monarchy for his successor.

Relations with England remained a central concern throughout Alexander’s reign. After years of intermittent tension, he concluded the Treaty of York in 1237 with Henry III of England, which defined the Anglo‑Scottish border in terms that have largely endured to the present day. His second marriage, to Marie de Coucy in 1239, further strengthened Scotland's ties to continental Europe. Alexander’s final years were dominated by his campaign to bring the Hebrides under Scottish control, a project cut short when he died suddenly on the island of Kerrera in 1249. He was succeeded by his son, Alexander III, whose equally long reign would see a continuation of his father’s ambitions and secure Scotland’s position as a kingdom distinct from—if not totally independent of—its powerful neighbour.

Early life

Alexander was born at Haddington, East Lothian, the only son of the Scottish king William the Lion and Ermengarde de Beaumont. 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 inaugurated 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. He appealed to John through the Magna Carta, which promised to deal with the rights of Alexander and his family.

King of Scots

In 1215, the year after his accession, the clans Meic Uilleim and MacHeths, inveterate enemies of the Scottish crown, broke into revolt, but loyalist forces speedily quelled the insurrection. In the same year, Alexander joined the English barons in their struggle against King John of England and led an army into the Kingdom of England in support of their cause. This action led to the sacking of Berwick-upon-Tweed as John's forces ravaged the north.

The Scottish forces reached the south coast of England at the port of Dover, where in September 1216, Alexander paid homage for his lands in England to the pretender Louis VIII of France, chosen by the barons to replace John. After John died, the papacy and the English aristocracy changed their allegiance to John's nine-year-old son, Henry III, forcing the French and the Scots armies to return home. Peace between Henry and Louis was agreed on 12 September 1217 with the Treaty of Kingston which was ratified on 20 September at Lambeth at a more formal gathering. Diplomacy further strengthened the reconciliation by the marriage of Alexander to Henry's sister Joan on 18 June or 25 June 1221.

In 1222 Jon Haraldsson, the last native Scandinavian to be Jarl of Orkney, was indirectly implicated in the burning of Adam of Melrose at his hall at Halkirk by local farmers when this part of Caithness was still part of the Kingdom of Norway. A contemporary chronicler, Boethius the Dane blamed Haraldsson for the bishop's death. After the jarl swore oaths to his own innocence, Alexander took the opportunity to assert his claims to the mainland part of the Orkney jarldom. He visited Caithness in person and hanged the majority of the farmers while mutilating the rest. His actions were applauded by Pope Honorius III, and a quarter of a century later, he was continuing to receive commendation from the Catholic Church, as in the reward of a bull from Pope Celestine IV.

Alexander the warrior and knight: the reverse side of Alexander II's Great Seal, enhanced as a 19th-century steel engraving. Legend: Alexander Deo rectore Rex Scottorum (Alexander, with God as his guide, king of the Scots)

During the same period, Alexander subjugated the hitherto semi-independent district of Argyll (much smaller than the modern area by that name, it only comprised Craignish, Ardscotnish, Glassary, Glenary and Cowal; Lorn was a separate province, while Kintyre and Knapdale were part of Suðreyar). Royal forces crushed a revolt in Galloway in 1235 without difficulty; nor did an invasion attempted soon afterwards by its exiled leaders meet with success. Soon afterwards, a claim for homage from Henry of England drew forth from Alexander a counter-claim to the northern English counties. The two kingdoms, however, settled this dispute by a compromise in 1237. This was the Treaty of York, which defined the boundary between the two kingdoms as running between the Solway Firth (in the west) and the mouth of the River Tweed (in the east).

Alexander's first wife, Joan, died in March 1238 in Essex. Alexander married his second wife, Marie de Coucy, the following year on 15 May 1239. Together they had one son, Alexander III, born in 1241.

A threat of invasion by Henry in 1243 for a time interrupted the friendly relations between the two countries; but the prompt action of Alexander in anticipating his attack, and the disinclination of the English barons for war, compelled him to make peace the next year at Newcastle.

Alexander now turned his attention to securing the Western Isles, which were still part of the Norwegian domain of Suðreyjar. He repeatedly attempted negotiations and purchase but without success. Alexander set out to conquer these islands but died on the way in 1249. This dispute over the Western Isles, also known as the Hebrides, was not resolved until 1266 when Magnus VI of Norway ceded them to Scotland along with the Isle of Man.

The English chronicler Matthew Paris in his Chronica Majora described Alexander as red-haired:

[King John] taunted King Alexander, and because he was red-headed, sent word to him, saying, "so shall we hunt the red fox-cub from his lairs".

Death

Coat of arms of Alexander II as it appears on folio 146v of Royal MS 14 C VII (Historia Anglorum). The inverted shield represents the king's death in 1249. The blazon for the arms was Or, a lion rampant and an orle fleury gules.

Alexander attempted to persuade Ewen, the son of Duncan, Lord of Argyll (and King of the Isles), to sever his allegiance to Haakon IV of Norway. When Ewen rejected these attempts, Alexander sailed forth to compel him, but on the way he suffered a fever at the Isle of Kerrera in the Inner Hebrides. He died there in 1249 and was buried at Melrose Abbey.

The Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar records additional information, in that before attempting to invade the Isles, where Ewen held power, he was supposedly warned in a dream by St. Columba, St. Olaf and St. Magnus to desist. King Ewen of the Isles' status as Monarch had been confirmed by Haakon IV and was disputed by Alexander. The episode might be emblematic of a broader desire on the part of Alexander to bring the Kingdom of the Isles fully into the power of the Scottish Crown. In any case, when he finally decided to continue in his endeavour, despite the dream, and having been advised against it by his men, he died shortly afterwards. The incident was portrayed in the saga as divine punishment. His body was then transported back to the mainland.

He was succeeded by his son, the seven-year-old Alexander III of Scotland.

Family

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 Tarrant 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.

Fictional portrayals

Alexander II has been depicted in historical novels:

• Sword of State (1999) by Nigel Tranter. The novel depicts the friendship between Alexander II and Patrick II, Earl of Dunbar. "Their friendship withstands treachery, danger and rivalry";
• Child of the Phoenix (1992) by Barbara Erskine;
• The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, Day the Second: Third Story.

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Further reading

• Alexander II at the official website of the British monarchy
• "Alexander II" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
• Chambers, Robert; Thomson, Thomas Napier (1857). "Alexander II" . A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen . Vol. 1. Glasgow: Blackie and Son. pp. 47–49 – via Wikisource.
• Worcester Annals
• Rotuli Litterarum Patencium