ROBERT II., King of Scotland, 1371-90, was b. March 2, 1316, only two years after the battle of Bannockburn. His father was Walter Stewart, and his mother, Marjory, only daughter of Robert the Brtice. Robert lost both his parents in infancy. During the disastrous reign of his uncle, David II., he was one of the most prominent of the patriotic nobles of Scotland, acting as regent, or joint-regent, during the minority and exile of his sovereign. He was present at the battles of Halidon hill (q.v.) and Neville's Cross (see BRUCE, DAVID). • On the death of David he obtained the crown, and became the founder of the Stuart dynasty, in virtue of the law of succession adopted by the council of estates held at Ayr in 1315. Partly from disposition, and partly from the infirmities of age, Robert proved a peaceable, though not exactly a pusillanimous ruler. Such wars as were waged with England were not only conducted, but actually organized, by his powerful and intractable barons, particularly the earls of Douglas, Mar, March, and Moray, who shaped the policy of the country very much according to their pleasure. The misery inflicted on both sides of the borders by the raids of these warlike chiefs, and the reprisals of the English wardens—the Percies, and others— was frightful; famine and pestilence became chronic; but the most celebrated incidents of Robert's reign were the invasions of Scotland by an English military and naval force under the command of the duke of Lancaster (" Old John of Gaunt, time-honored Lai caster"), in 1384, and again by king Richard II. himself, in 1385, which wasted the land
as far as Edinburgh and Fife; and the grand retaliatory expedition of the Scotch in 1388, when two armies invaded and devastated England: the larger under the earls of Fife and Strathearn, Archibald Douglas, surnamed the Grim, lord of Galloway, and the earls of Mar and Sutherland, penetrating by way of Carlisle; the smaller, under James earl of Douglas (" the doughty Douglas"), and the brothers Dunbar, earls of :Moray and March, by way of Northumberland. Both were completely successful. What gives a special interest to the movements of the smaller body is the fact that on its return home it fought and won, though at the expense el the life of its gallant leader, the brill iant battle of Otterburn, July 21p 1388. See CuEvv CiusE. Robert died. at his castle of DundonaId, in Ayrshire, April 19, 1380. According to Buchanan (not, however, a very accurate historian), he labored honestly to suppress the internal disorders of the country; but like most of the Stuarts, he was profligate in his habits. His favorite mistress, Elizabeth !lure of Rowallan, became his second wife.