Andrew Stewart was from 1460 to 1482 and one of the leading servants of King James III of Scotland.
Background
Andrew Stewart was born c. 1426 in Antrim, Ireland, and was the youngest illegitimate son of James the Fat, who in turn was the sole surviving son of Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany, executed for treason in 1425 by King James I of Scotland. When his grandfather the Duke of Albany was executed by the vengeful King James I in 1425, his father James Mor Stewart fled Scotland and took refuge in Ireland.
After his father"s death in 1429 Andrew Stewart was raised at the court of his paternal grandmother Isabella, Countess of Lennox.
Education
Andrew attended a university in England, in which country he was knighted before 12 July 1437 with his brother Murdoch.As well as Murdoch and Marion, two other siblings, Arthur and Walter, are known. Returning to Scotland by 1440, he attended the Parliament of Scotland at Stirling that year.
Career
Andrew Stewart was the youngest of approximately seven children. By 11 June 1457 he had been granted the title Lord Avandale. In 1460 he was appointed Chancellor by King James II of Scotland who died later that year.
Avandale retained the officer of Chancellor, and may have briefly served as regent, during the minority of King James III of Scotland.
He then served as governor of Stirling Castle and as an ambassador and diplomat, taking a leading role in the negotiations which led to the marriage of James and Margaret of Denmark in 1469. In 1471 he was granted the rents of the Earldom of Lennox for life.
Albany then proclaimed himself King Alexander IV of Scotland and immediately began to alienate the nobles by his harsh policies, especially the powerful George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly. On Alexander"s orders, Lord Avandale was then stripped of the Chancellorship because he had captured Albany"s castle of Dumbarton for the King in 1479.
He was replaced as Lord Chancellor by John Laing, the Bishop of Glasgow.
Because of Alexander"s treatment of the nobles, James III had been able to gain back most of their support and in 1483 with help from the Earl of Huntly, James was able to call a Parliament that condemned Albany as a traitor and forced him into exile for a second and final time. Avandale had been present at the Parliament and the following year he was one of the ambassadors sent to Louis XI of France. After this he appears to have largely withdrawn from public business.
Membership
He probably served as a member of the Royal Household of King James II and was granted lands, including Avandale and Strathavon, which were forfeited by William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas.
