On this day: October 14

Desperate for an heir after his first wife passed away without any surviving children, Alexander III, King of Scots married Yolande the youngest daughter of King Robert IV of France, in Jedburgh on October 14 1285.

While returning to his young second wife from Council in Edinburgh, Alexander fell from his horse at Kinghorn and died and Yolande was shipped back to France. Alexander’s death was a tragedy for Scotland: the throne was left without an obvious successor, and the resulting lack of leadership ultimately led to years of bloodshed and oppression at the hands of Edward I.