Fate summons the Maid of Norway
Document of the Month - March
The marriage contract between Eric, King of Norway and
Margaret, daughter of Alexander III, of Scots
(RH5/6).
Drawn up in July 1281, it was to play a vital part in
the subsequent history of Scotland. The contract said that
if Alexander were to die without a male heir, the Scottish
throne would pass to his daughter and any child that she
might have with the Norwegian King.
Click here to view larger image (1.12Mb)
In 1286 Alexander did in fact die, as the result of a
riding accident, without a son to succeed him and as his
daughter Margaret had pre-deceased him his granddaughter in
Norway, also called Margaret but now more commonly known as
'The Maid of Norway', inherited the throne by the terms of
this document.
However, seven-year-old Margaret fell ill with a fever
on her sea journey to Scotland and died in the Orkney
Islands without being crowned. As she had no direct heirs,
and as the marriage contract made no further provision for
the succession, a jostling for the Scottish throne began.
The struggle to fill the vacuum, which included competing
claims from the Bruce and Balliol families, and the
intervention of Edward I of England, would lead to the
beginning of the so-called 'wars of independence'.
Edward, who initially involved himself in the Scottish
question as an arbiter, moved many of the earliest records
of Scotland to London. This was apparently to enable a full
legal analysis of the competing claims.
By the Treaty of Northampton (1328) it was 'agreed that
all writings, obligations, instruments and other monuments
relating to the subjection of the people and country of
Scotland to the King of England … be given up and restored
to the aforesaid King of Scotland as soon as they really
can, according as they are found'. The marriage contract
featured on this page was one of those documents and was
returned to the Scottish Record Office (now the National
Archives of Scotland) from London in 1937.
Documents of the Month in 2003
January
A gift from a
child queen
February
A
frozen dinner to remember
Documents of the Month in 2002
May
Treaty of Perpetual Peace
June
Register of Sasines
July
Architectural sketch of seaside shelter
August
The shirt with a message in Hindustani
September
Letter to Charles II in 1664
October
18th century map of Africa
November
Murder in Appin 1752
December
Plight of the
orphaned bairn
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