Editing Alexander III of Scotland (section)

== Death ==
Alexander died in a fall from his horse while riding in the dark to visit the queen at [[Kinghorn]] in [[Fife]] on 19 March 1286 because it was her birthday the next day.<ref>{{cite book |title=Scottish Queens, 1034–1714 |last=Marshall |first=Rosalind K. |page=27 |year=2003 |publisher=Tuckwell Press}}</ref> He had spent the evening at [[Edinburgh Castle]] celebrating his second marriage and overseeing a meeting with royal advisors. He was cautioned against making the journey to Fife because of weather conditions but crossed the [[River Forth|Forth]] from [[Dalmeny]] to [[Inverkeithing]] anyway.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Bonner |first=Elizabeth Ann |date=1997 |title=The Origins of the Wars of Independence in Scotland, 1290–1296 |url=https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/JSSSH/article/view/7167 |journal=Journal of the Sydney Society for Scottish History |volume=5 |issn=1320-4246}}</ref> On arriving in Inverkeithing, he insisted on not stopping for the night, despite the pleas of the nobles accompanying him and one of the [[Burgess (title)|burgesses]] of the town, Alexander Le Saucier. Le Saucier (who was either linked to the King's kitchen or the master of the local saltpans) must have been known to the King since his rather blunt warning to the King lacks the usual deference: "My lord, what are you doing out in such weather and darkness? How many times have I tried to persuade you that midnight travelling will do you no good?"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moffat |first=Alistair |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/931094353 |title=Scotland: A history from earliest times |publisher=Birlinn Ltd |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-78027-280-1 |location=Edinburgh |oclc=931094353}}</ref>

However, Alexander ignored the repeated warnings about travelling in a storm and set off with his retinue and two local guides.<ref name=":0" /> The king became separated from his party near [[Kinghorn]], and was found dead with a broken neck near the shore the following morning. It is assumed that his horse lost its footing in the dark. While some texts say that he fell off a cliff,<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Wood |editor-first1=James |title=The Nuttall Encyclopaedia |date=1920 |publisher=Warne |location=London |page=13 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_EcPAAAAQAAJ&q=alexander+iii+fell+off+a+cliff&pg=PA13 |access-date=8 August 2016}}</ref> there is none at the site where his body was found; however, there is a very steep rocky embankment, which "would have been fatal in the dark."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mount |first1=Toni |title=Dragon's Blood & Willow Bark: The Mysteries of Medieval Medicine |date=2015 |publisher=Amberley |location=Stroud, Glos. |isbn=978-1445643830 |page=n.p. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UlVpCAAAQBAJ&q=death+alexander+iii+no+cliff&pg=PP23 |access-date=8 August 2016}}</ref> After Alexander's death, his realm was plunged into a period of darkness that would eventually lead to war with England. He was buried in [[Dunfermline Abbey]].

As Alexander left no surviving children, the heir to the throne was his unborn child by Queen Yolande. When Yolande's pregnancy ended, probably with a miscarriage, Alexander's three-year-old granddaughter [[Margaret, Maid of Norway]], became the heir. Margaret died, still uncrowned, on her way to Scotland in 1290. The inauguration of [[John Balliol]] as king on 30 November 1292 ended the six years of the [[Guardians of Scotland]] governing the land.

The death of Alexander and the subsequent period of instability in Scotland was lamented in an early [[Scots language|Scots]] poem recorded by [[Andrew of Wyntoun]] in his [[Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland]]:
{{blockquote|
Quhen Alexander our kynge was dede,<br/>
That Scotlande lede in lauche and le,<br/>
Away was sons of alle and brede,<br/>
Off wyne and wax, of gamyn and gle.<br/>
Our golde was changit into lede.<br/>
Crist, borne in virgynyte,<br/>
Succoure Scotlande, and ramede,<br/>
That is stade in perplexite.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Watson |first1=Roderick |title=Literature of Scotland: The Middle Ages to the Nineteenth Century |date=2007 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Basingstoke, Hants |isbn=978-0230000377 |page=26 |edition=2nd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lFzcCwAAQBAJ&q=Quhen+Alexander+our+kynge+was+dede%2C+That+Scotland+lede+in+lauche+and+le%2C&pg=PA26 |access-date=8 August 2016}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>}}

In 1886, a monument to Alexander III was erected at the approximate location of his death in Kinghorn.<ref name=nationalgalleries>{{cite web |url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/sc-13639-kinghorn-road-alexander-iii-monument-king |title="Alexander III Monument, Kinghorn", British Listed Buildings}}</ref>