Alexander III of Scotland
King of Scots 1249–1286
Alexander III (Scottish Gaelic: Alaxandair mac Alaxandair; Modern Gaelic: Alasdair mac Alasdair; 4 September 1241 – 19 March 1286) was King of Alba (Scotland) from 6 July 1249 until his death. He concluded the Treaty of Perth, by which Scotland acquired sovereignty over the Western Isles and the Isle of Man. His heir and only grandchild, Margaret, Maid of Norway, died before she could be crowned.
Life
Alexander was born at Roxburgh, the only son of Alexander II by his second wife, Marie de Coucy. His father died on 6 July 1249, and he became king at the age of seven, inaugurated at Scone on 13 July 1249.
The years of his minority featured an embittered struggle for the control of affairs between two rival parties, the one led by Walter Comyn, Earl of Menteith, the other by Alan Durward, Justiciar of Scotia. The former dominated the early years of Alexander's reign. At the marriage of Alexander to Margaret of England in 1251, Henry III of England seized the opportunity to demand homage from his son-in-law for the Scottish kingdom, but Alexander did not comply. In 1255, an interview between the English and Scottish kings at Kelso led to Menteith and his party losing to Durward's party. Though disgraced, they still retained great influence, and two years later, seizing the person of the King, they compelled their rivals to consent to the establishment of a regency representative of both parties.
“Alexander III of Scotland” enters the record as king of Scots 1249–1286. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Alexander, Scotland and King can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Alexander III of Scotland” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Alexander, Scotland and King provides the most credible route into that argument.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q211109. VIAF identifies the subject as 265288668. The Library of Congress control number is n82156717. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1241, 1286, 1249 and 1251.
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This entry incorporates text from “Alexander III of Scotland” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.