On September 26th 1290 Queen Margaret, Maid of Norway died, en route from Norway to Scotland.
The consequences of this and the earlier death of King Alexander III had dire implications for Scotland, and was the start of Edward Longshanks meddling in Scotland's affairs, the reasons for this I hope to explain here.
As King Alexander III left no surviving children, the heir to the throne was his unborn child by Queen Yolande. When Yolande's pregnancy ended, probably with a miscarriage, Alexander's seven-year-old granddaughter Margaret, Maid of Norway, became the heir, her mother, also called Margaret was Queen to Eric and married to King Eric II,EirÃkr Magnússon. Ordinarily Queen Margaret would have been next in line, but she died on 9th April 1283 aged 22 in Tønsberg, during or shortly after giving birth to Princess Margaret, who became known in Norway as Eiriksdotter, the name is self explanatory.
Please not as with many of my posts the dates differ, the primary Scottish accounts of the life of Margaret are found in the Chronicle of Lanercost and the Chronica Gentis Scotorum by John of Fordun. The date of the death of Queen Margaret is given as 9 April 1283 in the Chronica Gentis Scotorum, but the Chronicle of Lanercost states her death to have been 27/28 February 1283. Both connect it to the childbirth so correspond to the birth of The Maid of Norway, as she became known in Scotland.
Back in Scotland less than a year later in January 1284 when his son and heir, Alexander, died aged just 20. Alexander’s death sparked a succession crisis for our king. He had no brothers or uncles to succeed him; his only heir was his 8-month-old granddaughter, Margaret, in Norway.
Importantly in the same year Alexander obtained, from his nobles, a recognition of Margaret’s right to succeed to the throne, should he fail to produce any further heirs.
However, the death of his last surviving child also prompted Alexander III to look for a new wife. And on 1st November 1285, at Jedburgh Abbey, Alexander married Yolande de Dreux, daughter of Robert IV, Count of Dreux, in the hope of producing an heir.
In March 1286, Alexander was on his way to visit his new bride, one night, when he got separated from his escort during a violent storm; his horse appears to have lost its footing and fallen down an embankment. The king’s body, with his neck broken, was found on the beach the next day, just a mile from where his wife was staying, at Kinghorn in Fife.
With the new queen pregnant 6 Guardians were appointed to rule the kingdom until the arrival of Alexander’s posthumous heir. However, Yolande either miscarried, or the baby was still-born and by the end of the year it was clear that Scotland had to look elsewhere for a ruler. Alexander’s only surviving heir was now 3-year-old Margaret of Norway.
Within weeks of Alexanders death Robert Bruce, Grandfather of the future king and future King, John Balliol had both made attempts on the crown and the south-west was raised in rebellion. However the majority of Scots, represented by the 6 Guardians, gave their backing to Margaret, the Maid of Norway and Bruce and Balliol were forcibly held in check.
With the Guardians maintaining an uneasy peace between the competing claims of Margaret, Robert Bruce and John Balliol, Erik II of Norway sought the help of Edward I of England. Messengers were sent between the English and Norwegian courts and in Spring 1289 serious negotiations began.
On 6th November 1289 an international summit was held at Salisbury. The Norwegian ambassadors met with Edward and his advisers. It’s possible the Scottish Guardians had also sent representatives, but some sources say the Scots were excluded from these initial talks. The summit proved successful and it was agreed that Margaret would marry Edward of Caernarfon, Edward I’s son and heir, within the next 12 months.
For the Scottish, the marriage alliance promised an end to the years of uncertainty and to the latent threats they had been facing since 1286. For Margaret, a marriage alliance with England gave the Maid the powerful protector that Eric was seeking.
It was agreed at Brigham that, although Edward and Margaret were not yet of marriageable age, the would be regarded as married on Margaret’s arrival from Norway – and Edward of Caernarfon would be King of Scotland from that moment. The business of Scottish government and law was to remain in Scotland and be run by a resident Viceroy or lieutenant.
There was no common ground, however, on the issue of royal fortresses: Edward I wanted to appoint all custodians as a guarantee of security but the Scots saw this as a demand for the surrender of sovereignty. In the final agreement, ratified at Northampton, the point is glossed over with an agreement that keepers would be appointed by the ‘common advice of the Scots and the English king’.
It is thought Edward would have pushed his side of things further, but had heard of the young Queens departure from Norway and wanted the deal signed and sealed before the Scots’ hand was strengthened by the physical possession of their queen.
In the final agreement, the Scots got a clear statement safeguarding their independence. Edward promised that Scotland should remain ‘free in itself, and without subjection from the kingdom of England’.
Margaret had set sail in September 1290; accompanied by Bishop Narve of Bergen, she was bound for Leith. In preparation for the Maid’s arrival, Edward I sent gifts for his future daughter-in-law; and the magnates of Scotland began to assemble at Scone Abbey, Perth, in anticipation of the enthronement of their new queen.
However, storms drove the Maid’s ship off course and she landed at St Margaret’s Hope, South Ronaldsay, on Orkney. She later died at Orkney, in the arms of the Bishop, supposedly from the effects of a severe bout of seasickness. She was 7 years old.
As the Scottish and English messengers returned south with news of the Maid’s death, Margaret’s body was returned to Norway. She was buried beside her mother, in the north aisle of Christ’s Kirk, in Bergen.
The period of instability in Scotland was lamented in an early Scots poem recorded about a century later by Andrew of Wyntoun in his Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland. It is immortalised on Alexander's memorial near Kinghorn.
