| Notes |
- Murdoch Stewart and Isobel of Lennox were married in 1392 and he was captured in 1402. In these ten years they had five children making James' estimated birth date shown here reasonably accurate.
Sir James Stewart was the fourth son of Murdoch Stewart and Isolbel of Lennox. In Gaelic he was referred to as Seamus Mhor. He has been recorded in many places as James "The Gross" Stewart. We believe this nickname is an incorrect translation of his Gaelic nickname "Mhor". "Mhor" means "big, large, or great." We suspect that "Mhor" was at sometime rendered in Norman French, probably as "Le Gros," which means "large", but could easily be mistranslated into English as "The Gross". James is also referred to as James "The Fat." Thus we believe the correct translation of James Mhor Stewart should be "Big" James Stewart.
Little is known of James' early years. until 1424 when King James I was finally released from captivity in England and returned home. King James I had most of the Albany family arrested in August of 1424, including James Mhor Stewart's father and mother, two brothers, and his maternal grandfather. James Mhor managed to escape capture and fled into his mother's lands of the Lennox in western Stirlingshire where he attempted to raise an army in rebellion.
James Mhor's rebellion was put down by the King's forces, but not before James Mhor burned the town of Dumbarton to the ground killing the governor of the castle, his great-uncle, Sir John "The Red" Stewart, Sheriff of Bute. Unfortunately this action sealed the fate of James' father and brothers and they were all executed on 24 May 1425. King James also had several captured supporters of James Mhor hanged, drawn and quartered with their quarters put on display in chains in what was left of the town of Dumbarton.
James Mhor Stewart retreated deeper into the Lennox lands around Loch Lomond, taking over Inchmurrin Castle, a Lennox stronghold. On 8 June 1425 the king's forces under Lords Montgomery and Kilmaurs recaptured Inchmurrin. Again, James Mhor escaped. This time he fled to Antrim, Ireland, taking with him the infant illegitimate children of his late brother, Walter Stewart of Fife.
"In 1426, Parliament passed an act principally concerning the western portion of Scotland towards Ireland in which ships going from Scotland to Ireland needed the king’s deputy’s permission. The reason for this [included] that a known rebel, James the Fat, was given shelter in Ireland likely with the MacDonalds of Antrim, relatives of the MacDonald Lords of the Isles, and contact with him may endanger the king." (Devlin)
Devlin cites the Irish Annals of the Four Masters in an entry from 1429 recording James’s death which reads: “James Stuart, son of the king of Scotland [sic], and Roydomna of Scotland, who had been banished from Scotland to Ireland, died, after the arrival of a fleet from the men of Scotland to convey him home, that he might be made king.” Roydomna is a copying error for Roydamna which likely derives from the Irish Gaelic Ri-dama, which means "King's relation" and was a term used to designate the heir to the throne. Devlin notes that in 1429 King James I still had no male heir, thus, with the execution of the rest of the Albany family, James Mhor really was first in line to the throne but for the fact that he'd been banished and stripped of the family's lands and titles.
On 10 May 1429, James was granted safe passage from England to Ireland by Henry VI. (The Rotuli Scotiae, ii, p. 265.) This could be evidence that James had been in England conversing with King Henry VI, perhaps seeking support for an attempt for the throne. It also indicates that James' death took place after the tenth of May that year.
Duncan Stewart's 1739 genealogy says that James had relations with "a lady of the family of the McDonalds." The case for this mystery Lady MacDonald being the daughter of Eoin Mor Tanister MacDonald, Lord of the Glens of Antrim, is circumstantial, but persuasive. The Parliamentary decree (above) indicates that James was being sheltered by the McDonalds of Antrim. The Annals of the Four Masters (above) refers to James as a Prince of Scotland and next in line for the throne. Thus, he would only be paired with a daughter from the most powerful MacDonald family in Antrim, which would be the family of Eoin Mor Tanister MacDonald, younger brother of Donald MacDonald, 2nd Lord of the Isles. Eoin and Donald's mother was Princess Margaret Stewart, sister of Robert Stewart, late Duke of Albany, making Eoin MacDonald and James Mhor Stewart first-cousins-once-removed, suggesting that James Mhor sought shelter with a close relative. Eoin had long been in rebellion against his brother Donald, Lord of the Isles. In 1411, Donald MacDonald, Lord of the Isles, attacked Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany, seeking claim to the Earldom of Ross. Eoin MacDonald of Antrim joined the army of Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany, against his brother, the Lord of the Isles. Thus, Eoin MacDonald of Antrim was already a committed ally of the Albany Stewarts and had fought alongside James Mhor Stewart's grandfather. Some records indicate that Lady MacDonald came from the family of the Earls of Antrim, an office which was not created until 1603, but was bestowed on a descendant of Eoin Mor Tanister MacDonald, making that an anachronistic reference to the same family.
James Mhor Stewart and Lady MacDonald had two children, James Beag Stewart and Matilda Stewart. (Weir and others including Duncan Stewart (1739) list seven children, mistakenly including the illegitimate children of Walter Stewart of Fife who fled in the care of James Mhor.)
As noted above, James Mhor Stewart died in 1429 just as a fleet was arriving to take him back to Scotland to challenge for the throne.
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Abt 1399 - 1429 (~ 30 years)
