page_title: Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan
section_title: Church defiance
hierarchical_section_title: Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan / Church defiance
caption_attribution_description: Seal of Alexander Bur, Bishop of Moray
context_page_description: Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, Alasdair Mór mac an Rígh, and called the Wolf of Badenoch, was the third surviving son of King Robert II of Scotland and youngest by his first wife, Elizabeth Mure of Rowallan. He was the first Earl of Buchan since John Comyn, from 1382 until his death. Alexander married the widowed Euphemia I, Countess of Ross, but they had no children. He did have a large family by his longtime mistress, Mairead inghean Eachainn. Alexander was Justiciar of Scotia for a time, but not an effective one. He held large territories in the north of Scotland before eventually losing a large part of them. Alexander is remembered for his destruction of the royal burgh of Elgin and its cathedral. His nickname was earned due to his notorious cruelty and rapacity, but there is no proof that it was used during his lifetime.
context_section_description: There was no dominant potentate in Moray during the 12th and 13th centuries and the bishops ruled their territories with a great deal of independence, but this ended when King Robert I of Scotland elevated his nephew Thomas Randolph to the Earldom of Moray sometime between 12 April and 29 October 1312. The Randolph family did not hold the Earldom for long and it reverted to the crown on the death of Thomas's son John, in 1346, and lay vacant for the next 26 years. In 1365 bishop Bur persuaded David II that his lands in Badenoch and Strathspey should be governed as if in regality. To emphasise this, Bur, when he entered into the protection agreement with Alexander in 1370, ensured that the de facto Lord of Badenoch would have no hold on him, nor on his lands and people. A few months later in March 1371, on his father's accession to the throne, Alexander was officially made Lord of Badenoch. Robert II's charter gave Alexander the lands of Badenoch seemingly in regality with, presumably, authority over the church lands however, bishop Bur possibly protested at this, as the details of the grant of Badenoch contained in the Register of the Great Seal has no reference to regality. Alexander was therefore to hold the Badenoch lands with no greater authority than John Comyn had a century before. The bishop continued to come under pressure from Alexander either directly or from his caterans possibly acting independently. Boardman explains that both the bishops of Moray and Aberdeen were in dispute with Alexander regarding the strain that his cateran followers were putting on church lands and tenants. Boardman also theorises that it was this occupation of church lands, virtually rendering them worthless in terms of income, that may have been the reason for Bur 'voluntarily' giving up his rights to estates such as Rothiemurchas, on 20 April 1382. Complicating matters was the fact that neither of the bishops could appeal to the 'legitimate secular authority' as that authority was Alexander himself in his positions of Lord of Badenoch and Royal Lieutenant and was the reason why they appealed directly to the King.
caption: Seal of Alexander Bur
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