Elizabeth Mure

Elizabeth Mure
Spouse(s)	Robert II of Scotland
Father	Sir Adam Mure of Rowallan
Mother	Janet Mure of Pokellie
Born	Rowallan Castle
Died	before May 1355

Elizabeth Mure (died before May 1355) was mistress and then wife of Robert, High Steward of Scotland, and Guardian of Scotland (1338–1341 and from October 1346), who later became King Robert II of Scotland.

Elizabeth Mure (Muir) was said to be born at Rowallan Castle. Her parents were Sir Adam Mure of Rowallan, Ayrshire and Janet Mure.

She initially became the Steward's mistress. He married her in 1336 but the marriage was criticised as uncanonical, so he remarried her in 1349 following a papal dispensation dated at Avignon 22 November 1347.

She died before her husband inherited the crown at the rather advanced age of 54, and he later re-married (Papal Dispensation dated 2 May 1355).

On 27 March 1371, "The Lord John (who later took the title of King Robert III, changing his name because of what he saw as John de Baliol's unpatriotic desecration of the name John), Earl of Carrick and Steward of Scotland, first-born son of King Robert II" was declared heir to the Crown by Parliament in Scone Abbey.

They had at least ten children, with some accounts saying as many as thirteen. Doubts about the validity of her marriage led to family disputes over her children's right to the crown.

Issue

• Robert III, born John Stewart, Earl of Carrick
• Walter Stewart, Lord of Fife
• Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany (c. 1340–1420)
• Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan
• Margaret Stewart, married John of Islay, Lord of the Isles
• Marjorie Stewart, married firstly, John Dunbar, Earl of Moray, and secondly, Sir Alexander Keith
• Johanna (Jean) Stewart, married firstly, Sir John Keith, secondly, Sir John Lyon, and thirdly in 1384, Sir James Sandilands.
• Isabella Stewart, married firstly, James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas, and secondly, David Edmonstone
• Katherine Stewart, married Sir Robert Logan of Grugar and Restalrig, Lord High Admiral of Scotland
• Elizabeth Stewart, married Sir Thomas Hay, Lord High Constable of Scotland

Ancestry

Family of Elizabeth Mure

16. Sir Gilchrist Mure of Rowallan               8. Sir Archibald Mure of Rowallan                       17. Isabel Comyn               4. William Mure of Rowallan                             18. Sir John de Montgomery               9. Margaret de Montgomery                       2. Sir Adam Mure of Rowallan                                   20. Sir William Lindsay of Luffness               10. William Lindsay 1st of Craigie                       21. Avice de Lancaster               5. ? Lindsay                             1. Elizabeth Mure                                         6. Ronald Mure of Pokellie                             3. Janet Mure of Pokellie

See also

• Polnoon Castle - Elizabeth was a grand-daughter of Sir John Montgomerie of Polnoon.

References

• Dunbar, Sir Archibald H., Bt., Scottish Kings, a Revised Chronology of Scottish History 1005 - 1625, Edinburgh, 1899, p. 160-1.
• McAndrew, Bruce A., Scotlands Historic Heraldry, Boydell Press, 2006: ISBN 1-84383-261-5