Robert II

Robert II (1316-1390) was king of Scotland from 1371 to 1390. For many years heir presumptive to David II and frequently regent of the kingdom, Robert is important primarily for his role in Scottish affairs before he came to the throne.

Robert Steward (or Stewart) was the son of Walter Steward (the third of that name in a line stretching back to Walter "the Steward," ca. 1158) and Marjorie Bruce (daughter of Robert Bruce, who had become Robert I of Scotland in 1306). As early as 1318 the Scottish Parliament declared Robert Steward heir presumptive if the male line of Bruce should die out.

Robert first came to prominence at the battle of Halidon in 1333, where he was one of the commanders of the losing Scottish side and was in consequence dispossessed of his estates by Edward Balliol, the English-supported rival to Robert Bruce's son David II (born 1324; reigned 1329-1371). Robert Steward was among the leaders of the successful resistance to the puppet regime of Balliol and, as principal regent from 1338, paved the way for David's return 3 years later.

However, no love was lost between the two men (Robert being David's nephew and heir presumptive as well as being older and having controlled the regency), and contemporaries suspected that Robert treacherously fled the field at the crucial battle of Neville's Cross in 1346, at which David was taken prisoner by the English. Robert was again regent, for 11 years, but David's release in 1357 (obtained by a promise to pay a crushing ransom to the English) put him out of power, and in 1363 Steward joined a conspiracy against the King. This was unsuccessful, however, and David's attempt to get his ransom lowered by settling the Scottish crown on the English royal family (thus effectively disinheriting Robert) sealed the enmity between the two. Parliament rejected David's proposal, and on the King's death in 1371 Robert succeeded to the throne as Robert II.

The new king seems to have played very little part in the important events of his reign, being overshadowed by two of his many sons, first the Earl of Carrick (the future Robert III) and then the Earl of Fife. Robert was uninterested in, and powerless to stop, the renewed and increasingly bitter hostilities between the English and the Scots (the latter egged on by the French) culminating in the burning of Edinburgh in 1385 and the Scottish victory at Otterburn 3 years later. It is conjectured that Robert, now an old man, suffered physical, and perhaps mental, decline; and he had been put under a guardianship, tantamount to deposition, a few months before his death in 1390. He left a troubled succession, a quarrelsome and turbulent nobility, and a tradition of weak and largely ineffective kingship, all of which were to plague his country during the subsequent century.

Further Reading

There is no work solely on Robert II or his reign. The standard histories of Scotland give background information about his times: P. Hume Brown, History of Scotland, vol. 1 (1899), and William Croft Dickinson, A New History of Scotland, vol. 1 (1961; 2d ed. 1965). □

Robert II (1316–90), steward of Scotland (1326–71), earl of Strathearn (1357–69 and 1370–1), the first Stewart king of Scots (1371–90). Grandson of Robert I of Scotland and heir presumptive to the throne by the ‘tailzie’ (entail) of 1318. The birth of a son to Robert I in 1324 left Robert only as heir presumptive failing a direct heir to David II. He was several times king's lieutenant during David's minority and captivity, but showed himself inactive against the English and ineffective in government.

Robert was 55 when he eventually succeeded the childless David. For a time he proved more capable than his earlier career would have suggested. Too old to take the field himself, he made good use of the younger nobles to exploit the weakness of English authority during the senility of Edward III and the minority of Richard II. Payment of David's ransom was stopped in 1377; and by the early 1380s most of the lands in English occupation had been recovered. By that time, however, Richard II was emerging as a determined ruler, while Robert II's age was telling. In 1384, as more open war was breaking out, a general council, apparently with his consent, deprived Robert of control of justice, which was given to his son John, earl of Carrick, the future Robert III. He was in turn succeeded in 1388 by the king's second son Robert, earl of Fife, and future duke of Albany. Robert II died in April 1390, at the age of 74.

The 15th-cent. chronicler Walter Bower stressed the prosperity of Scotland at the time, the maintenance of peace and order, and the fact that Robert left Scotland almost entirely free of English control. Later writers have been less flattering, though it seems that at least till 1384 he was an effective and successful ruler. Unfortunately he left a large number of descendants from his two marriages, and rivalries between the various lines repeatedly disturbed the peace of Scotland, at least until the death of James I.

Bruce Webster

Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy (c.1050–1134), the eldest son of William the Conqueror, was designated as heir to Normandy before 1066 and succeeded his father there, despite a series of quarrels and two periods of exile. Any hopes Robert may have had of obtaining England were, however, dashed by his father's death-bed bequest in 1087. Two attempts in 1088 and 1101 to wrest the kingdom from his brothers William II and Henry I failed and in 1106 he was himself ousted from the duchy by Henry after the battle of Tinchebrai. He was thereafter kept in prison until his death. Contemporary sources portray Robert as brave, but ineffective; a harsh verdict given that his difficulties in Normandy and Maine can be interpreted as the consequence of a reaction against his father's oppressive rule and that his two brothers unquestionably commanded greater resources. His heroic contribution to the First Crusade shows him as a redoubtable warrior capable of prospering in a great military enterprise. His nickname, literally ‘Short Boots’, is said to have been conferred by his father.

David Richard Bates

Robert II (1054–1134) ( Robert Curthose) Duke of Normandy (1087–1106). The eldest son of William I (the Conqueror), he disputed Normandy and England with his younger brothers, William II and Henry I, and played a prominent part in the First Crusade (1096–99). In 1106, Robert was defeated and captured by Henry, and imprisoned for life.