Page:Robert the Bruce and the struggle for Scottish independence - 1909.djvu/68

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THE DISPUTED SUCCESSION.

A.D. 1286-1291.

HE gravity of the crisis in Scottish affairs lay in the fact that Alexander III. had died childless. Two sons had predeceased him, and one daughter, Princess Margaret, who had married Eric, King of Norway. She left a daughter, also called Margaret, upon whom, on February 5, 1284, the succession to the throne of Scotland had been settled by the Parliament of Scone, "failing any children whom Alexander might have, and failing the issue of the Prince of Scotland."

Princess Margaret, or the Maid of Norway, as she is known in the mournful annals of these years, being an infant at her father's Court, a Regency was appointed immediately after the King's death, consisting of six Guardians of the realm. These were 38