Reign of King Alexander III of Scotland

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)
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Alexander III became King at the age of seven, on the sudden death of his father from a fever. The period of his minority, between 1249 and 1262, were disrupted by two rival factions vying for power, one headed by Walter Comyn, Earl of Menteith, and the other by Alan Durward, Justicia of Scotia.

Once he reached his majority, however, Alexander managed to take control, and one of the first acts of his reign was to continue his father's attempt to regain the Western Isles from Norwegian control. When his formal claim to the islands was rejected by the Norwegian king, Haakon, Alexander engineered the negotiations to his enemy's disadvantage, driving Haakan into the mouth of a storm. After defeat at the Battle of Largs, Haakan's embattled fleet struggled homewards, but their king died at

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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Reign of King Alexander III of Scotland". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 July 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=605, accessed 19 March 2024.]

605 Reign of King Alexander III of Scotland 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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