STUART, the name of a royal family of Scotland and England, also written Stewart and, less frequently, Steuart. The name is de rived from the important office of steward of the royal household of Scotland. The founder of the house seems to have been a Norman baron named Alan (the son of Flaad) a fol lower of William the Conqueror, who obtained the lands and castle of Oswestry, in Shrop shire. His second son, Walter, entered the service of David I of Scotland, by whom he was appointed dapifer, that is, meatbearer, or steward of the royal household. The steward obtained from David the lands of Renfrew, Paisley, Pollock, Cathcart, and others in that district ; he founded the abbey of Paisley in 1160; and died in 1177. His grandson Walter held, in addition to the office of steward, that of Justiciary of Scotland. He died in 1246 His eldest son, Alexander, the 4th steward, seized the islands of Bute and Arran, in the right of his wife Jean, heiress of James, lord of Bute. This led to the expedition of Harm of Norway.
and the battle of Largs (1263), in which the steward is said to have commanded the right wing of the Scots, greatly contributing to the defeat of the Norwegians. Alexander had two sons, JAMES, the 5th steward, and JOHN, known in history as that Sir John Steward of Bonkyl, or Bonkill, who was killed at the battle of Fal kirk (22 July 1298). The eldest of Sir John's sons, ALEXANDER, was the ancestor of the Stew art earls of Angus; the 2d ALAN, of the Stew art earls and dukes of Lennox; the 3d, Walter, of the earls of Galloway; the 4th, of the earls of Athol, Buchan and Traquair and the Lords Lorn and Innermeath. James, the elder brother of Sir John, succeeded as 5th steward in 1283. Three years later, on the death of Alexander III he was chosen one of the regents of the king dom. He fought bravely under Wallace for some time, but submitted to Edward I in 1297. In spite of the most solemn oaths which the English king obliged him to take, he died in the service of Bruce in 1309. His son, WALTER, the 6th steward, had an important command in the Seztch army at Bannockburn. Some time after, King Robert bestowed the hand of his daughter Marjory upon him, a union which brought the crown of Scotland, and eventually that of Great Britain into his family. Walter was succeeded by his son, ROBERT, the 7th stew ard. During the long and disastrous reign of David II, the steward distinguished himself by his patriotic exertions for the defense of Scot land, defeating the intrigues of that prince and Edward III to seat Lionel, Duke of Clarence, on the Scottish throne. On the death of David, without issue, the steward peacefully succeeded to the crown as Robert II in 1371, and died in 1390. From this time to the death of James V in 1542 the crown of Scotland remained in the direct male line of Stuarts, passing in un broken succession from father to son. James V left a daughter Mary who succeeded to the throne. Her son, James VI of Scotland, suc ceeded to the English throne on the death of Elizabeth, tracing his claim through his great grandmother Margaret, a daughter of Henry VII of England. The Stuarts were driven from England in the person of James II in 1688. (See for the history of the royal line, ROBERT II and III ; JAMES I, II, III, IV, V; MARY STUART; JAMES I (of England); CHARLES I and II ; JAMES II; Wu.UAM and MARY, and Arizcs).
James II of England was twice married, first to Anne Hyde, daughter of Lord Clarendon, by whom he had Mary, queen of William III, and Anne, both of whom died leaving no issue. His second wife, Mary of Modena, gave birth, on the eve of the revolution, to James Edward Francis, Prince of Wales, commonly called the Old Pretender, or the Chevalier St. George. The legitimacy of this prince was long doubted; a great majority of the nation was convinced that the queen had never given birth to a child; but that there was no imposture is now a mat ter of historical belief. On the outbreak of the revolution, the queen and her infant son took refuge in France, and on the death of the ex-king, Louis recognized the child as king of England by the title of James III. In 1715 an unsuccessful attempt was made to seat him on the throne of his ancestors by force of arms. James Edward, who had landed in Scotland after his cause had been irretrievably lost, suc ceeded in making his escape. France, however, no longer offered him an asylum, as the Regent Orleans wished to stand well with the English government, and the Pretender went to Rome, where he lived in obscurity until his death in 1766. In 1720 he married the Princess Maria Clementina Sobieski, granddaughter of John Sobieski (q.v.), king of Poland, one of the wealthiest heiresses in Europe, by whom he had two sons, Charles Edward Louis Casimir Benedict Maria Clement, born at Rome in 1725.. In 1745, when the last effort was made for the restoration of his family, Henry Benedict as sumed the command of the troops assembled at Dunkirk to aid the operations of his brother in Britain, but the news of the battle of Cullo den prevented the embarkation of this arma ment, and Prince Henry returned to Rome. He took holy orders, and in 1747 was raised by Benedict XIV to the purple. On the death of his brother in 1788, he assumed the barren title of Henry IX, king of England. When the French conquered Italy he was obliged to flee to Venice, where, stripped of his and rich church livings, he lived in great pov erty until George III settled on him a pension of f4,000, which he enjoyed till his death in 1807. Next to the children of James II in representation of the royal Stuart family, come the descendants of Henrietta Maria, daughter of Charles I and wife of Philippe, duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIV of France. This princess gave birth to two daughters, Mary, who married Charles II of Spain, but had no issue, and Anna Maria, wife of Victor Amadeus, Icing of Sardinia.
The present representative of this line is Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria-Este of the branch of Modena, wife of ex-King Lud wig III of Bavaria, eldest son of the regent Luitpold (d. 12 Dec. 1912). The present royal fam ily of Great Britain trace their descent through Sophia, electress of Hanover, granddaughter of James I, by her mother Elizabeth, electress palatine, and queen of Bohemia. George V derives his descent from the electress Sophia through George I, George II, Frederick, Prince of Wales, George III, Edward, Duke of Kent, Queen Victoria and Edward VII. Consult Cowan, S., The Royal House of Stuart from its Origin to the Accession of the House of Hanover' (2 vols., London 1908).