King David III Bruce

Born on 13th June, 1355 at the Tower of London, David Bruce named for his father, is proclaimed heir to the kingdom of Scotland but per the terms of his father’s release remains in England for most of his childhood and early adult life. He grows up close friends with his cousin Thomas of Woodstock as well as admiring his uncle Edward III and cousin Edward the Black Prince. David as a child is sweet and caring, yet under his uncle’s stewardship he soon becomes cold and calculating. Upon his mother’s death in 1361, his father David married his mistress Margaret Drummond siring a son named Robert on her in 1365, this child would later pose something of a threat toward David during his reign. On the fourth of March, 1371 David enters the Kingdom of Scotland for the first time accompanied by his cousin and best friend Thomas, as well as his uncle King Edward and a company of some 500 men. He is crowned at Scone on the 30th March, 1371, and sets up the royal court at Edinburgh Castle. The first issue he has to deal with is his step mother, and giving her a small fortune he sees her wed off to a loyal lord. Seated with a deep desire to retain the ancestral lands of his family, David signs a treaty with his uncle returning the Lordship of Annandale to his possession, for a sum of some 2,000 marks. As for the Earldom of Carrick, this poses to be a difficult thing for the young king, due to the growing Stewart presence within Scotland under Robert Stewart cousin to the king. The issue of the Earldom of Carrick would continue to pose a problem for the young king for most of his early reign.
 
Being the only remaining male member of the royal family of Bruce, there is much pressure on the young king to marry and sire heirs, and so in January of 1372, after surviving an assassination attempt he marries Isabel Douglas daughter of Earl Douglas and a firm rival of the Stewarts. Robert the steward, aware of the consequences of this begins plotting rebellion, centred on Robert Bruce, the king’s young brother, being kept as ward in Edinburgh. David finds himself struggling to deal with the intrigues of court and when resentment boils over in 1374, due to his friendship with his cousin Thomas, war breaks out led by the Earl of Fife and his brother Alexander Stewart the newly named Lord of Badenoch. The rebellion known as the Fife rebellion lasts until the end of the year after which both Fife and Badenoch are captured and executed for treason. With the death of two of his sons, Robert the steward has no option but to formally submit to the new king and pledge fealty once more offering up his young son David as a hostage, and also seeing the lands given to his two sons forfeit to the crown. The king now being the most powerful man in the realm assigns these forfeit lands to those who remained loyal, amongst the beneficiaries is his cousin Thomas named Earl of Buchan and Lord of Badenoch, something that does cause resentment (which the Steward will file away for later use.)
 
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