Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stewart, Walter (d.1437)
STEWART, WALTER, Earl of Atholl (d. 1437), was the second son of King Robert II [q. v.], by his second wife, Euphemia Ross. Robert III [q. v.], Robert Stewart, first duke of Albany [q. v.], and Alexander Stewart, earl of Buchan [q. v.], were his half-brothers. Another son of King Robert II, named Walter, by his first wife, was still alive in July 1362, so that possibly the second Walter was born subsequently to this; but in any case as early as 19 Oct. 1378 he married Margaret, only daughter and heiress of Sir David de Barclay, lord of Brechin, with whom he obtained the estate and also the title of lord of Brechin (Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. pp. 146, 147, quoted in Burnet's Preface to the Exchequer Rolls, vol. iv. p. clx). On 15 Nov. 1391 he had a safe-conduct to go to England with thirty attendants (Cal. Documents relating to Scotland, 1357–1509, No. 431), and he had similar safe-conducts on 5 Dec. 1391 (ib. No. 433), 10 Jan. 1402–3 (ib. No. 627), and 8 June 1404, in the last instance that he might make a pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas of Canterbury (ib. No. 656). In 1398 and 1400 he received a hundred marks as keeper of Edinburgh Castle (Exchequer Rolls, iii. 437, 487). He had a charter of the earldom of Caithness, on the resignation of his niece Euphemia, countess palatine of Strathearn, and is so designated in July 1402 (ib. iii. 545). In charters of 20 Oct. 1416 and 22 Aug. 1421 he is also mentioned as tutor of Malise, earl of Strathearn [q. v.] (Hist. MSS. 7th Rep. p. 706). In the safe-conduct of 8 June 1404 he is designated Earl of Atholl and Caithness, the earldom of Atholl having been previously vested in his father, Robert II. On 22 Sept. 1409 he received from the regent Albany a grant of the barony of Cortachy in Forfarshire. He took a leading part in the movement for the return of James I to Scotland in 1424; was a conservator for Scotland of the truce with England, signed 28 March (Cal. Documents relating to Scotland, 1357–1509, No. 949); and at the same time gave surety in twelve hundred marks that his son David would remain a hostage in England for King James's ransom (ib. No. 950). He was also one of the jury which after the king's return condemned Murdac Stewart, second duke of Albany [q. v.] On 22 July 1427 he had a grant of the earldom of Strathearn for life (Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. i. No. 93), and on 15 May 1430 he resigned the earldom of Caithness in favour of his son Alexander. In 1437 he engaged in the plot for the assassination of James I, in order that his grandson, Sir Robert Stewart, chamberlain to the king, might succeed to the crown. It was successful so far as the king's assassination was concerned; but the cruel deed in the Blackfriars monastery, on 20 Feb., was approved of by few except those immediately concerned in it. Atholl was captured by the Earl of Angus, and, along with the other conspirators, was put to death in April 1437 after enduring unspeakable tortures. He affirmed that although he had been made aware of the conspiracy, he had used every endeavour to persuade his grandson against it, and believed that he had succeeded. Before execution he was placed on a pillory, and, in bitter mockery of his supposed purpose, his head was encircled with a red-hot iron crown, on which was inscribed ‘The king of traitors.’ By his wife, Margaret, daughter of Sir David de Barclay, he had two sons: David, who seems to have died before him in England, leaving a son, Sir Robert, conspirator with his grandfather; and Alan, in whose favour his father resigned the earldom of Caithness in 1430, and who was killed by Donald Balloch in 1431, leaving no issue.
[Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, vols. iii–iv.; Cal. Documents relating to Scotland, 1357–1509; Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. vol. i.; Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood).]