Life: (1198-1249)

King of Scots, born in Haddington, East Lothian, E Scotland, UK, who succeeded his father, William I, in 1214. He allied with the disaffected English barons and made an incursion as far south as Dover. The accession of Henry III of England allowed a rapprochement, cemented by his marriage in 1221 to Henry's sister, Joan, and the frontier question was settled by the Treaty of York (1237).

Her death without children in 1238, and Alexander's marriage to the daughter of a Picardy nobleman, Marie de Coucy, then strained relations with England. His reign is notable for the vigorous assertion of royal authority in the W Highlands and the south-west during the years of peace with England.