House of Stuart

House of Stuart
Armorial of Stuart
Country	Kingdom of Scotland, Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Ireland, Kingdom of France, Kingdom of Great Britain
Titles	King of Scotland King of England King of Ireland Queen of Great Britain Claim to France
Founder	Walter FitzAlan, 1st High Steward of Scotland
Final ruler	Anne of Great Britain
Current head	Randolph Stewart, 13th Earl of Galloway
Founding year	1150
Ethnicity	Breton, British

The House of Stuart, more correctly the House of Stewart, was an important royal house in Scotland which continues to exist as nobility. Their paternal ancestors were Bretons who came to England during the Norman conquest of England in 1066. They became established in the feudal barony of Oswestry. Walter, a younger son of Alan (i.e: Walter FitzAlan) of Oswestry, Sheriff of Shropshire, etc., came to Scotland about 1136 and served as "dapifer", or Steward, successively to Kings David I, Malcolm IV, and William 'the Lion'. Walter founded, first at Renfrew but shortly afterwards at Paisley, a house of Cluniac monks drawn from the Shropshire Priory of Much Wenlock, which itself was given some property at Renfrew, that being shortly exchanged, however, for land which Walter 'the Steward' held, no doubt of his brother, at Manhood near Chichester in Hampshire, England.

Sir Walter, the 6th High Steward, married Marjorie, daughter of King Robert 'The Bruce' and their son became King Robert II, King of Scots starting the Stewart dynasty. Eventually this dynasty, by the 17th century, ruled the entire British Isles, including the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Ireland, also upholding a titular claim to the Kingdom of France.

In total, nine Stewart monarchs ruled only Scotland from 1371 until 1603, when there was a Union of the Crowns under James VI and I of Scotland and England, second-cousin to Elizabeth I, who had become the senior genealogical claimant to all of the holdings of the now extinct House of Tudor. About this time the French spelling, Stuart, began to be used. Thus there were six Stuart monarchs who ruled both England and Scotland as well as Ireland (although the Stuart era was interrupted by the Commonwealth 1649–1660, as a result of the Civil War). King James VI and I had personally adopted the title King of Great Britain, but it appears this was not formalised until the Act of Union 1707, which politically united England and Scotland, the first monarch being Queen Anne. After her death, the monarchy passed to the House of Hanover, under the terms of the Act of Settlement 1701.

The Stewarts/Stuarts ruled during a time in European history of transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Monarchs such as James VI and I were known for sponsoring exponents of the northern Renaissance such as the poet Robert Henryson. However the several reigns in Scotland itself were tumultuous and violent with the Kings often eclipsed by the power of the nobility. After gaining control of all of Britain the arts and sciences developed; William Shakespeare's best known plays were authored during the last 13 years of his life in the reign of James 1st, while institutions such as the Royal Society and Royal Mail were established during the reign of Charles II.

List of monarchs

Monarch of Scotland

Portrait	Name	From	Until	Relationship with predecessor
	Robert II of Scotland	22 February 1371	19 April 1390	nephew of David II Bruce, King of Scots, who died without issue. Robert's mother Marjorie Bruce was daughter of Robert I of Scotland.
	Robert III King of Scots	19 April 1390	4 April 1406	son of Robert II.
	James I King of Scots	4 April 1406	21 February 1437	son of Robert III.
	James II King of Scots	21 February 1437	3 August 1460	son of James I.
	James III King of Scots	3 August 1460	11 June 1488	son of James II.
	James IV King of Scots	11 June 1488	9 September 1513	son of James III.
	James V King of Scots	9 September 1513	14 December 1542	son of James IV.
	Mary, Queen of Scots	14 December 1542	24 July 1567	daughter of James V.

Monarchs of Great Britain and Ireland

Scotland entered into full political union with England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created the Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded and combined both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England.

Portrait	Name	From	Until	Relationship with predecessor
	James VI and I of Scotland & of England and Ireland	24 July 1567	27 March 1625	son of Mary, Queen of Scots and Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. King of Scotland alone, 1567—1603, until inheriting the titles King of England and Ireland, including claim to France from the extinct Tudors.
	Charles I of England, Scotland & Ireland	27 March 1625	30 January 1649	Son of James VI of Scotland & I of England & Ireland.
	Charles II of England, Scotland & Ireland	30 January 1649	6 February 1685	Son of Charles I of England, Scotland & Ireland. In exile from 1649 to 1660, during the Commonwealth of England. Died without legitimate issue.
	James II of England and Ireland & VII of Scotland	6 February 1685	13 February 1689	Son of Charles I and younger brother of Charles II of England, Scotland & Ireland. Went into exile of his own accord, resulting in the Revolution of 1688.
	Mary II of England, Scotland and Ireland	13 February 1689	28 December 1694	Daughter of James II of England and Ireland & VII of Scotland. Her co-monarch was her first-cousin-once-removed, William III of England (II Prince of Orange), a great-grandson of King Charles I, who outlived his wife.
	Anne of Great Britain and Ireland	8 March 1702	1 May 1707	Sister of Mary II & daughter of James II of England and Ireland & VII of Scotland. Name of state formally changed to Great Britain with the Acts of Union 1707, though family had used title since James I & VI. Died without surviving issue. Her second cousin, George I (Elector of Hanover), succeeded to the throne.

References

• Simpson, David, The Genealogical and Chronological History of the Stuarts Edinburgh, 1713, [original in the National Library of Scotland].
• St. George, Henry, Richmond Herald, edited by John W. Clay, F.S.A., The Visitation of Cambridge, 1575 and 1619, Harleian Society, London, 1897, pps: 7 - 11, contains the Stewart family tree in detail.
• Dunbar, Sir Archibald H., Bt., Scottish Kings, a Revised Chronology of Scottish History, 1005 - 1625 Edinburgh, 1899. pps: 126 - 144.
• Barrow, Professor G. W. S., The Anglo-Norman Era in Scottish History Clarendon Press Oxford, 1980, p.64-7.