STUART FAMILY, THE. This house derives its name from the important office of steward of the royal household of Scotland. The name is often written Stewart and occasionally Steuart. The form of Stuart was first assumed when Queen Mary went to France, and was adopted by all her descendants. The founder of the house seems to have been a Norman baron named ALAN, whose second son WALTER entered the service of David I. of Scotland, and became dapifer or steward of the royal house hold. Walter obtained large grants of land from David, and died in 1246. ALEXANDER, the fourth steward, had two sons: JAMES, who succeeded him in 1283, and JOHN, known in history as the Sir John Stewart of Bonkyl, who was killed at Falkirk (July 22, 1298). James was chosen one of the regents on the death of Alexander III., and died in the service of Bruce in 1309. His son, WALTER, the sixth steward, married Marjory, daugh ter of King Robert I., a union which secured to his family the crown of Scot land in the event of the extinction of the royal line. He died in 1326, and was succeeded by his son, ROBERT, the seventh steward, who, on the death of David II. without issue, succeeded to the crown as Robert II. in 1371.
Succeeding monarchs of this house, with dates of their accession, were: Robert III. (1390) ; James I. (1424) ; James II. (1437) ; James III. (1460) ; James IV. (1488) ; James V. (1513) ; Mary Stuart (1542) ; James VI. of Scotland (1568) ; and of England, James I. (1603) ; Charles I. (1625) ; Charles II. (1649) ; and James II. of England (1685).
Mary of Modena, second wife of James II. of England gave birth to James Ed ward Francis, Prince of Wales, com monly called the Old Pretender, or the Chevalier St. George. In 1715 an un successful attempt was made by the Jacobites, or Stuart party, to set this prince on the throne of his ancestors by force of arms. He married a grand daughter of John Sobieski, King of Po land, by whom he had two sons, Charles Edward, the Young Pretender, and Henry Benedict Maria Clement, who be came a cardinal in 1747. The last male representative of the branch of the Stuart line descended from Henrietta Maria, daughter of Charles I., was Fran cis V., ex-Duke of Modena, who died childless Nov. 20, 1875. Many of the noble families of Scotland are descended from other branches of the Stuart line.