Scottish Royals Trivia

1. Robert II, the first Stewart King, died in which Scottish county?

From Quiz Scotland's Monarchy 2

Answer: Ayrshire

Robert II died at Dundonald Castle in Ayrshire on the 19th April 1390, aged 74. He ascended the throne when he was 54 years old after the death of his uncle, David II. His reign started well as he was able to stabilise and greatly improve the country's finances - due in part to a flourishing wool trade and, on the death of Edward III of England, he no longer had to pay David II's ransom money. However, he became a weak king and, towards the end of his reign, did not rule well over his nobles. They were critical of him and the prestige of the crown weakened. In an attempt to restore law and order his eldest son, John, took over the rule of the Kingdom. Robert was buried at Scone Palace on the 25th April and he was succeeded by John, who took the name Robert III.

From Quiz Macbeth - History Not Story

Answer: 17 years

Macbeth reigned from 1040-1057. He succeeded Duncan I (1034-1040) and was succeeded in turn by Lularch (1057-1058). The speed of events in Shakespeare's play suggest that his reign was short and not so sweet.

From Quiz Scottish Kings and Queens [ 2 ]

Answer: Donald I

Donald mac Alpin (r.858-862) was Kenneth's brother. At the time the Scottish monarchy was not decided by primogeniture (succession by the eldest son) but by the selection of the most able candidate. To be a candidate, a man (all the early monarchs were men) must have had a great-grandfather who had held the throne. The high king (ard righ) was selected by the lesser kings (ri). Each high king would then nominate an heir (the tanist). Between 889 and 1034 the throne tended to alternate between the descendants of Constantine I, Kenneth's eldest son, and Aed (or Aedh), the second son. This often made for a bloody and bitter succession.

From Quiz The Real MacBeth

Answer: 1040

Macbeth means 'Son of Life' in Gaelic.

From Quiz Robert the Bruce

Answer: Turnberry Castle

Robert was the eldest son of Robert and Marjorie, Earl and Countess of Carrick. He had four full brothers, Edward, Nigel, Thomas and Alexander; and five full sisters, Isabella, Mary, Christina, Mathilda and Margaret as well as a half-sister by his mother's first marriage. Some sources give his birthplace as Whittle in England.

From Quiz Scottish Kings and Queens [ 1 ]

Answer: Dalriada

Kenneth was king of Dalriada which covered much of modern-day Argyll in western Scotland. Pictland covered most of the north. Strathclyde was an independent kingdom in the south-west of modern Scotland. Northumbria is in England but once extended to cover much of south-east Scotland.

From Quiz Scottish Kings And Queens

Answer: Dalriada

Alba is a Gaelic name for Scotland in general and the Highlands in particular. Strathclyde's capital was Dumbarton and the tribes there were Britons. There never was such a name as Pictonia for the Kingdom of the Picts, but anyway the Picts occupied NORTH Scotland and were not on particularly friendly terms with the Kingdom of Dalriada. One could say that originally Scotland was occupied by the Dalriada- Scots of the west, the Picts of the north, the Britons of the southwest and the Angles of the south-east.

From Quiz Early Scottish Monarchy

Answer: Robert II

The succession of Robert II in 1371, as the first Stewart king of Scotland meant that Scotland had a Celtic king once more, as the Stewarts were descended from Breton Celts in Brittany

From Quiz Scotland's Monarchy 1

Answer: 43 years

Constantine II reigned an astonishing 43 years, a remarkable feat considering it was the middle of the Dark Ages. He is Scotland's third longest reigning monarch prior to 1707 (Act of Union), with only William 'the Lion' and James VI ruling for longer. In 943 he abdicated and enetered a monastery. He left the throne to his nephew Malcolm I as his son, Indulf, was considered too young to rule. He died nine years later in 952, probably well in to his 70s.

From Quiz Macbeth - History Not Story

Answer: Gruoch

Princess (later Queen) Gruoch had been married before, to Gillacomgain, who was killed by King Malcolm II for his part in the Moray revolt of 1032. The Morays were in revolt because Malcolm had chosen Duncan (the saintly king in Shakespeare's play) to be his successor. Gruoch was a granddaughter of King Kenneth III, and was a royal princess before she married Macbeth. His marriage to her strengthened Macbeth's claim to the throne after the death of Duncan. There is little evidence that she was an evil manipulator of her husband, although it is probable that theirs was a typically political marriage between royals, promoted by the parties in opposition to Malcolm II and his ideas on his successor.

From Quiz Scottish Kings and Queens [ 2 ]

Answer: Eochaid and Giric

The dates normally given for Eochaid and Giric's reign are 878-889. Giric was the son of Donald I while Eochaid was the grandson of Kenneth I, through his daughter, the wife of a king of Strathclyde. Records for the time are very vague and the exact nature of Eochaid and Giric's rule is unclear. It is generally thought that they ruled jointly. However, it is possible that they were rivals for the throne or that they divided the realm and one ruled in the north and one in the south. Other examples of joint reigns are Donald III and Edmund, 1094-97 (again details of this reign are sketchy and many sources do not credit Edmund as a king at all), and William II and Mary II, 1688-1694.

From Quiz The Real MacBeth

Answer: Malcolm II

At the time the Scottish throne passed to the most able candidate on the death of the previous king provided that candidate had a father, grandfather or great-grandfather who had previously been king. This often made for a very bloody succession process. MacBeth's wife, Gruoch, was the grand-daughter of Kenneth III. This in itself was not enough to secure MacBeth the throne but it did bolster his own claim.

From Quiz Robert the Bruce

Answer: Earl of Carrick

Robert's mother, Marjorie, was Countess of Carrick in her own right, her husband became earl when he married her but renounced the title rather than swear fealty for it to John Balliol. When Robert became king the title passed to his brother Edward. After Edward's death the title then passed to Robert's son David and then when he became king to Robert Stewart, grandson of the Robert the Bruce and later Robert II. Since then the title has been held by the monarch's eldest son so that the current earl of Carrick is Prince Charles. The other titles are also held by the heir to the British throne but were never held by Bruce.

From Quiz Scottish Kings and Queens [ 1 ]

Answer: Constantine II

Constantine reigned 900-943, one of the longest reigns of any Scottish king. He died the year following his abdication. Indulf was his son, who was later king himself.

From Quiz Scottish Kings And Queens

Answer: Duncan

Siward was the Earl of Northumbria who was sent by Edward the Confessor to help Duncan's son Malcolm. Macbeth was defeated in the battle of Dunsinan Hill and fled north. He was killed at Lumphanan. Duncan was Macbeth's cousin and descended from the Fergus line. Macbeth descended from a junior line via Fergus' brother Loarn. It was not unusual however, in that era, for cousins, brothers or uncles to succeed rather than sons.

From Quiz Early Scottish Monarchy

Answer: Alexander III

On 18th March 1286,eager for the company of his new bride, Alexander defied the advice of his retinue and set off to travel from Edinburgh castle to Kinghorn in Fife in a terrible storm. A search party found him dead the following morning.

From Quiz Scotland's Monarchy 1

Answer: Malcolm II

Malcolm II joined forces with the King of Strathclyde, Owain the Bold, and together their forces defeated the Northumbrian army, bringing what we know today as the Lothians into the Kingdom of Scotland.

From Quiz Scottish Kings and Queens [ 2 ]

Answer: David I

David I (r.1124-1153) was the youngest son of Malcolm Canmore and his second wife, Margaret of England. He was known as David the Saint for his support of the Church. His son, Henry of Huntingdon, had predeceased him and so he was succeeded by his eldest grandson, Malcolm IV. It was during the reigns of Malcolm Canmore's sons that primogeniture became established as the mode of succession.

From Quiz The Real MacBeth

Answer: Gruoch

Gruoch (or Grauch) is one of the first women recorded in Scottish history. Bethoc was the daughter of Malcolm II and the mother of Duncan I, Donada was her sister. Some sources site her as MacBeth's mother, some claim his mother was another, unnamed, sister. Donada does seem to have been the mother of the Norwegian Thorfinn Ravenfeeder, Earl of Orkney, which would make him either the cousin or the half-brother of MacBeth.

From Quiz Robert the Bruce

Answer: Elizabeth de Burgh

Elizabeth was the daughter of the Earl of Ulster, one of King Edward of England's leading nobles. She and Robert were married in 1302. She was captured in 1306 and held in prisoner in England until 1314. She was the mother of David II. Isabella of Mar was Robert's first wife, the mother of his eldest daughter, Marjorie. Johanna of England, sister of Edward III, was David II's first wife. Lady Catherine de Borough is a character in Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice".

From Quiz Scottish Kings and Queens [ 1 ]

Answer: Lulach

The historical MacBeth (r.1040-1057), whose name means 'Son of Life', appears to have been a very different character from the 'Macbeth' of Shakespeare's play. He overthrew his cousin Duncan I (r.1034-1040) - also very different from Shakespeare's portrayal of him - and reigned for 17 years before he was killed by Duncan's eldest son, Malcolm Canmore. However, Malcolm did not gain the throne immediately. It passed instead to MacBeth's stepson, Lulach (known as Lulach the Simple), who reigned for less than a year before he too was killed by Malcolm.

From Quiz Early Scottish Monarchy

Answer: The battle of Largs

After 80 years of peace with England, the banishing of the Norwegians and peace with the semi-independent Galloway, Scotland looked set to become strong and internally secure.

From Quiz Scotland's Monarchy 1

Answer: 1040 - 1057

Contrary to the well known play by William Shakespeare, Macbeth's reign was for the most part a peaceful one. In fact most of Shakespeare's work is extremely inaccurate and was most likely fabricated for the new King, James VI and I. For a start Duncan I (who reigned from 1034 - 1040) was not an old man when he died, nor was he a popular king. He was killed in battle, alegedly by Macbeth but by whom remains uncertain. Macbeth was known for his generosity towards the Church and the kingdom was obviously stable enough for him to travel on a pilgramage to Rome in 1050. He was killed at the Battle of Lumphanan in 1057 by Duncan I's eldest son, Malcom III (1058 - 1093). He was the last Scottish King to be burried on Iona. His supporters gave his stepson Lulach (1057-1058) the crown following his death but he only ruled for a matter of months before he too was assasinated by Malcolm III.

From Quiz Macbeth - History Not Story

Answer: He was slain in battle

Duncan was killed in battle near Elgin against rebel forces under the leadership of Macbeth. He had proved to be a weak and unwise king, who throughout his reign had struggled to suppress rival claims to his throne. He had angered many at court through his favouritism towards his wife's Danish relatives who he had introduced into his royal circle. His costliest mistake was a disastrous attempt to take the Northumbrian city of Durham in 1039, which decimated his army. This left him in a weakened military state to meet the northern revolt led by Macbeth a few months later. Shakespeare famously depicts Macbeth as Duncan's murderer, stabbing him in his bed as he lay asleep.

From Quiz Scottish Kings and Queens [ 2 ]

Answer: Alexander III

In 1098 the islands off the western seaboard of Scotland had been ceded to the Norwegians. Alexander III, like his father, had tried to claim these back for Scotland. In response, the Norwegian king, Haakon IV, set sail for Scotland. Haakon died after the battle on his journey back to Norway and in 1266 his successor concluded an agreement with King Alexander which allowed for the return of the islands to Scotland in return for a monetary tribute.

From Quiz The Real MacBeth

Answer: Moray

It was in Moray that MacBeth killed King Duncan in battle. MacBeth's father, Findlaech, had been Mormaer of Moray until he was violently overthrown by Gillacomgain, Gruoch's first husband. Gruoch married MacBeth after he overthrew Gillacomgain to seize Moray for himself. The mormaers were the lesser kings (ri) who elected the high king (ard righ).

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