Alexander III
(1241—1286)

King of Scots

A direct descendant of the first Scots king, Kenneth MacAlpin, and last of the Celtic kings. Alexander saw off threats from the Vikings and the English; he presided over a strong economy; and his self-assured reign was a golden age for Scotland. But his early death and the successive deaths of his heirs plunged Scotland into a struggle for its existence which was resolved only with the victory at Bannockburn in 1314.