6. Alexander III of Scotland died after rejecting the advice of his retainers and breaking his neck whilst riding in the dark on the road to Fife
Alexander III, the only son of Alexander II, was King of the Scots from 1249 until his death in 1286. Inheriting the throne from his father at the age of just seven, who had died suddenly from a fever, Alexander’s early reign was beset by court factionalism and a struggle for power among leading lords. Nonetheless, after his marriage in 1251 to Margaret of England, the young Alexander successfully denied Henry III of England’s demand to submit to Scotland’s southern rival. Reaching the age of independent rule, 21, in 1262, Alexander immediately set about resuming his father’s final endeavor: the conquest of the Western Isles.
Triumphing over Haakon, King of Norway, Alexander successfully won the Isle of Man and the Western Isles for Scotland. Less creditably, after the death of his wife in 1275, Alexander, “sometimes in disguise” and “as the fancy seized him”, would selectively visit nuns, widows, and virgins to demand pleasure. Advised not to ride to Fife on the night of March 18, 1286, due to bad conditions, at some point during the journey Alexander’s horse stumbled and threw the king. Found dead at the bottom of a steep embankment with a broken neck, his death without a male heir plunged Scotland into political disarray and, eventually, war with England.