Robert II of Scotland

Robert II (2 March 1316 – 19 April 1390) was King of Scots from 1371 to his death in 1390. The son of Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, and Marjorie, daughter of King Robert the Bruce, he was named Robert Stewart. Upon the death of his uncle David II, Robert succeeded to the throne as the first monarch of the House of Stuart.

Edward Bruce had been the heir presumptive for his older brother, King Robert the Bruce, but Edward had no children when he was killed in the Battle of Faughart on 14 October 1318. Marjorie Bruce died, likely in 1317, following a riding accident. After her death, Parliament named her infant son, Robert Stewart, as heir presumptive. However, this lapsed on 5 March 1324 with the birth of a son, David, to King Robert and his second wife, Elizabeth de Burgh. Robert Stewart became High Steward of Scotland on his father's death on 9 April 1327, and in the same year, Parliament confirmed the young Steward as heir should David die childless. In 1329, King Robert I died, and his five-year-old son succeeded to the throne as David II under the guardianship of Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray.

Edward Balliol, son of King John Balliol—assisted by the English and those Scottish nobles whom Robert I had disinherited—invaded Scotland, inflicting heavy defeats on the Bruce party on 11 August 1332 at Dupplin Moor. In the early morning hours of 16 December 1332, then sixteen-year-old Robert and Sir Archibald Douglas defeated Balliol at the Battle of Annan and drove him from Scotland. Balliol returned the following year with King Edward III and an English army. They defeated Archibald Douglas at the Battle of Halidon Hill on 19 July 1333. Robert, who had fought at Halidon, joined his uncle David in refuge in Dumbarton Castle. David escaped to France in 1334, and Parliament, still functioning, appointed Robert and John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray as joint guardians of the kingdom. The English captured Randolph in July 1335, while, in the same year, Robert submitted to Balliol, bringing about the removal of his guardianship. His former position was reinstated in 1338 and remained in effect until David returned from France in June 1341. Hostilities continued, and Robert was with David at the Neville's Cross on 17 October 1346, and either escaped or fled the field. David, however, was captured and remained a prisoner until he was ransomed in October 1357.