Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stewart, James (d.1309)
STEWART, JAMES (d. 1309), high steward of Scotland, was the son of Alexander, high steward, by Jean, daughter and heiress of James, son of Angus Macrory or Roderick, lord of Bute. He succeeded his father in 1283, and the same year was present in the assembly which acknowledged the maid of Norway as heir to the throne (Acta Parl. Scot. i. 424). After the death of Alexander III on 9 March 1286, he was on 11 April chosen one of the six guardians of the kingdom under Queen Margaret (Chronicles of Fordun and Wyntoun). The same year he signed the band of Robert Bruce and other nobles for mutual defence (Documents illustrative of the History of Scotland, i. 22). In the war which followed between Balliol and Bruce he took part on the side of Bruce. He attended in 1290 the parliament at Brigham at which a marriage was arranged between Prince Edward of England and the Maid of Norway; but her death in Orkney in October of the same year completely altered the political outlook. Being continued one of the guardians of the kingdom after her death, he agreed with the other guardians to submit the rival claims of the competitors for the Scottish throne to the arbitration of Edward I of England; but he afterwards joined with the party who resolved at all hazards to break with Edward, and his seal as a baron is appended to the ratification of the treaty with France in 1295 (Acta Parl. Scot. i. 453). On 7 July 1297 he, however, came to terms with Edward (Cal. Documents relating to the History of Scotland, 1272–1307, No. 908), and, having on 9 July confessed his rebellion and placed himself at Edward's disposal (ib. No. 909), he became a guarantor for the loyalty of the Earl of Carrick, until he delivered up his daughter Marjory as hostage (ib. No. 910). The service he had rendered to Edward, in inducing many barons to submit, caused Edward to place considerable confidence in his loyalty; but this confidence was soon belied. On the outbreak shortly afterwards of the rebellion under Wallace, he pretended to side with the English, and before the battle of Stirling was, along with the Earl of Lennox, sent by Surrey, the English commander, to treat with Wallace; but probably his main purpose was rather to supply Wallace with information than induce him to make submission. At any rate the negotiations failed, and as soon as the tide of battle turned in favour of the Scots he joined in the pursuit. Consequently, on 31 Aug. 1298, he was deprived of his lands, which were granted by Edward to Alexander de Lindsay (ib. No. 1006). In 1302 he was, with six other commissioners, sent to Paris to endeavour to secure that the interests of Scotland would be respected in the proposed treaty between England and France, but the mission was unsuccessful. On 17 Feb. 1303–4 he had a safe-conduct to go to England to treat of peace; and having submitted himself absolutely to the king's will in November 1305 (ib. No. 1713), he on 23 Oct. 1306 subscribed an oath of submission and fealty (ib. No. 1843). Nevertheless he was one of the Scots barons who on 16 March 1309 wrote to Philip, king of France, recognising Bruce's right to the Scottish throne. He died on 16 July 1309, and was buried at Paisley. By his wife Cecilia, daughter of Patrick, earl of Dunbar, he had three sons and a daughter: Walter (see below); Sir John, killed at the battle of Dundalk with Edward Bruce, earl of Carrick, in 1318; Sir James of Durisdeer; and Egidia, married to Alexander de Menyers or Menzies.
Walter Stewart (1293–1326), the eldest son, who succeeded his father as high steward, distinguished himself under Bruce in the English wars. At the battle of Bannockburn in 1314, though then, according to Barbour, ‘but a beardless hyne,’ he, with Sir James Douglas, commanded the left wing. In the following year Robert Bruce gave him his daughter Marjory in marriage, along with the barony of Bathgate, Linlithgowshire, and other lands; and in 1316, during the absence of Bruce in Ireland, he was, with Sir James Douglas, entrusted with the government of the kingdom. On the capture of Berwick from the English, Bruce entrusted the defence of the town and castle to Stewart, who, after repelling all the efforts of Edward to take them by assault, until the defeat of the English at Mitton, eventually compelled Edward to raise the siege. He signed the letter to the pope on 6 April 1320 asserting the independence of Scotland (Acta Parl. Scotl. i. 474). In 1322 he was engaged with Douglas and Randolph in the attempt to surprise Edward at Byland Abbey near Malton, Yorkshire, and after the escape of Edward pursued him with five hundred horse to the gates of York. He died on 9 April 1326, and was buried at Paisley. By his wife, Marjory Bruce, who died in 1316, he had a son Robert, who succeeded to the Scottish throne as Robert II [q. v.] After her death he married Isabel, daughter of Sir John Graham of Abercorn, by whom he had two sons, Sir John of Ralston and Sir Andrew. He is also stated to have married as his first wife Alice, daughter of Sir John Erskine, and to have had by her an only child Jean, the first wife of Hugh, earl of Ross; but this must be regarded as doubtful.
[Documents illustrative of the History of Scotland, ed. Stevenson, vol. i.; Cal. Documents relating to the History of Scotland, 1272–1307 and 1307–1357; Acta Parl. Scot. vol. i.; Barbour's Bruce; Chronicles of Fordun and Wyntoun; Andrew Stuart's Genealogical History of the Stewarts; Douglas's Scottish Peerage, ed. Wood, i. 44–7.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.258
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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