Heirs To James I
The new eleven-year-old King had several sisters living, but under the 1371 Act of Parliament limiting the succession to males his heir presumptive was his uncle
- Robert, Duke of Albany, who served as Regent. The Duke of Albany made no effort whatsoever to secure the King's release from his English captors, and ruled Scotland himself until his death on 3 September 1420, when he was succeeded by his son
- Murdoch as Duke of Albany and Regent of the Kingdom. Under Murdoch's regency the ransom on the King was finally paid, and James I returned to Scotland in 1424. However, the Albany family still had considerable power, and in an effort to regain full control of his Kingdom, James I had Murdoch and his son Sir Alexander Stewart attainted and beheaded on 25 May 1425 (Murdoch's eldest surviving son Sir Walter had been beheaded the day before). Murdoch's youngest son Sir James Stewart of Baldorran (called James Mór, or "the Fat"), fled to Ireland where he died in 1451, but he was disqualified from the succession by his father's attainder. The next male of the Stewart family was Murdoch's half-brother Robert Stewart, youngest son of the first Duke of Albany and de jure Earl of Ross following the death of his elder brother John the year before. He was still living in 1431, but the nearest male heir not of the Albany family was
- Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl and Caithness, youngest son of King Robert II by his second wife and the last of James I's uncles. He was instrumental in James's return from England, and assisted in the trial of his Albany relatives. He was given a third Earldom (as Earl of Strathearn) on 22 July 1427, and remained as heir presumptive until the King fathered a son,
- Alexander, Duke of Rothesay, on 16 October 1430. However the new heir died in infancy, leaving his twin brother
- James as heir apparent and Duke of Rothesay.
King James I was assassinated on 21 February 1437 by a group of conspirators including his uncle and sometime ally the Earl of Atholl, whereupon his infant son became King as James II.
Read more about this topic: List Of Heirs Of Scotland
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