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House of Stuart

The House of Stuart or Stewart was a royal house of the Kingdom of Scotland, later also of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Ireland, and finally of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland. Mary Queen of Scots adopted the French spelling Stuart while in France to ensure that the Scots Stewart was pronounced correctly. The name itself originates from the ancient hereditary Scottish title High Steward of Scotland.

The House of Stuart ruled the Kingdom of Scotland for 336 years, between 1371 and 1707. Queen Elizabeth I of England's closest heir was King James VI of Scotland via her grandfather King Henry VII of England, who was founder of the Tudor dynasty. At Elizabeth's death, James Stuart ascended the thrones of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Ireland and inherited the English claims to the French throne. From 1603, the Stuarts styled themselves "Kings/Queens of Great Britain", though there was no parliamentary union until the reign of Queen Anne, the last monarch of the House of Stuart. The Stuarts were followed by the House of Hanover, under the terms of the Act of Settlement 1701. Members of various cadet and illegitimate branches still survive today.

History

The earliest known member of the House of Stewart was Flaald I (Flaald the Seneschal), an 11th century Breton follower of the Lord of Dol and Combourg. Flaald and his immediate descendants held the hereditary and honorary post of Dapifer (food bearer) in the Lord of Dol's household. His grandson Flaald II was a supporter of Henry I of England and made the crucial move from Brittany to Britain, which was where the future fortunes of the Stewarts lay. Walter the Steward (died 1177), the grandson of Flaald II, was born in Oswestry (Shropshire). Along with his brother William, ancestor of the Fitzalan family (the Earls of Arundel), he supported Empress Matilda during the period known as the Anarchy. Matilda was aided by her uncle, David I of Scotland, and Walter followed David north in 1141, after Matilda had been usurped by King Stephen. Walter was granted land in Renfrewshire and the position of Lord High Steward. Malcolm IV made the position hereditary and it was inherited by Walter's son, who took the surname Stewart. The sixth High Steward of Scotland, Walter Stewart (1293-1326), married Marjorie, daughter of Robert the Bruce, and also played an important part in the Battle of Bannockburn currying further favour. Their son Robert was heir to the House of Bruce; he eventually inherited the Scottish throne when his uncle David II died childless in 1371.

In 1503, James IV attempted to secure peace with England by marrying King Henry VII's daughter, Margaret Tudor. The birth of their son, later James V, brought the House of Stewart into the line of descent of the House of Tudor, and the English throne. Margaret Tudor later married Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, and their daughter, Margaret Douglas, was the mother of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. In 1565, Darnley married his half-cousin Mary, the daughter of James V. Darnley's father was Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, a member of the Stewart of Darnley branch of the House. Lennox was a direct descendant of Alexander Stewart, 4th High Steward of Scotland, also descended from James II, being Mary's heir presumptive. Therefore Darnley was also related to Mary on his father's side and at the time of their marriage was himself second in line to the Scottish throne. Because of this connection, Mary's heirs remained part of the House of Stewart. Because of the long French residence at Aubigny, held by Darnley's branch in the Auld Alliance, the surname was altered to Stuart. In feudal and dynastic terms, the Scottish reliance on French support was revived during the reign of Charles II, who had an illegitimate son by Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth. This descent received the main Stuart appanages of Lennox and Aubigny, as well as the main Tudor appanage of Richmond.

French connections were notoriously unpopular and resulted in the downfall of the Stuarts, whose mutual enemies identified with the emergent Protestant nationalism and urban mercantilism as opposed to Catholic feudalism and rural manorialism. The Glorious Revolution caused the deposition of James II in favor of his son-in-law and his daughter, William and Mary. James continued to claim the thrones of England and Scotland, and encouraged revolts in his name, and his grandson Charles led an ultimately unsuccessful rising in 1745, becoming ironic symbols of conservative rebellion and Romanticism. Due to the identification of the Roman Catholic Church with the Stuarts, Catholic Emancipation was not passed until Jacobitism (as represented by direct Stuart heirs) was extinguished. Despite the Whig intentions of tolerance to be extended to Irish subjects, this was not the preference of Georgian Tories and their failure at compromise played a subsequent role in the present division of Ireland.

Heads of the House of Stewart

Dapifers of Dol

Flaithri I (died c.1080)
Alan I (died ?)
Alan II (died 1095)
Flaithri II (died c.1101-1102)
Alan III (died c.1121)

High Stewards of Scotland

Walter the Steward, 1st High Steward of Scotland (died 1177)
Alan Stewart, 2nd High Steward of Scotland (died 1204)
Walter Stewart, 3rd High Steward of Scotland (died 1246)
Alexander Stewart, 4th High Steward of Scotland (died 1283)
James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland (died 1309)
Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland (died 1326)
Robert Stewart, 7th High Steward of Scotland (became Robert II, King of Scots)

Kings of the Scots

Robert II (1371-1390)
Robert III (1390-1406)
James I (1406-1437)
James II (1437-1460)
James III (1460-1488)
James IV (1488-1513) - married Margaret Tudor, thus establishing the kinship to the English royal House of Tudor
James V (1513-1542)
Mary I, Queen of Scots (1542-1567)
James VI (1567-1625)

Kings of Great Britain, France and Ireland

James VI of Scotland and I of England (1603-1625) - Jacobean Age
Charles I of England and Scotland (1625-1649) - Carolean Age
During the period between Charles I and Charles II, England was a Republican Commonwealth, and then a Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell and Richard Cromwell. This period of 11 years is known as the English Interregnum.
Charles II of England (1660-1685) and Scotland (1649-1685) - Restoration Age
James II of England and VII of Scotland (1685-1688) (continued to claim the English and Scottish thrones after his deposition in 1688 until his death in 1701)
Mary II of England and Scotland (1689-1694) - with William III of England and II of Scotland (1689-1702), of the House of Orange-Nassau, a descendant of Charles I
Anne of Great Britain (1702-1714) - Augustan Age

Jacobite Claimants

James Francis Edward Stuart (called the "Old Pretender" by his detractors, and "the King Across the Water" by his supporters) claimed throne as James VIII of Scotland and III of England, (1701-1766)
Charles Edward Stuart (called the Young Pretender by the English), claimed throne as Charles III, known to the Scots as Bonnie Prince Charlie, (1766-1788)
Henry Benedict Stuart, claimed throne as Henry IX (1788-1807)

Patrilineal descent

Patrilineal descent, descent from father to son, is the principle behind membership in royal houses, as it can be traced back through the generations - which means that the historically accurate royal house of the Stuart monarchs was the House of Stuart.