died in 1380. His father Duke Robert married a second time, to Muriella de Keith, with whom he had four children, the elder of whom was John Stewart, 2nd Earl of Buchan (1381–1424). In 1389, at around age 27, Murdoch was appointed Justiciar North of the Forth. Father and son would now work together to expand their family interest, bringing them into violent confrontation with other members of the nobility, such as Donald McDonald, 2nd Lord of the Isles. War and capture Stewart served in Scottish military actions against the English in the early 15th century and was captured at the Battle of Homildon Hill, which took place on 14 September 1402 in Northumberland, England. Led by Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas, the Scottish army had invaded England bent on plunder, in part to avenge the killing and capture of Scottish nobles in the Battle of Nesbit Moor on 22 June 1402. While returning to Scotland, they were intercepted by English forces led by Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland. The result was a decisive defeat of the Scottish army. William Shakespeare later wrote, in his play Henry IV, part 1: Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, Balk’d in their own blood did Sir Walter see On Holmedon’s plains. Of prisoners, Hotspur took Mordake the Earl of Fife, and eldest son To beaten Douglas; and the Earl of Athol, Of Murray, Angus, and Menteith: And is not this an honourable spoil? A gallant prize? ha, cousin, is it not? ---Shakespeare, Henry IV, part 1, act 1, scene 1. Murdoch Stewart (described above as "Mordake the Earl of Fife") was held as a prisoner in England for the next twelve years. Politics Murdoch Stewart's captivity in England did not prevent his father from ruthlessly pursuing the family interest, often through violent means. On 26 March 1402 the Duke of Albany's nephew, David Stewart, Duke of Rothesay, had died in Falkland Palace while under his uncle's protection. King Robert III of Scotland, fearful that his younger son Prince James, the heir to the throne of Scotland, would suffer the same fate, sent him out of the kingdom to escape Albany's clutches. In 1406 James boarded the Maryenknyght, a ship from Danzig that was bound for France, but on 22 March 1406, the ship was taken by English pirates off Flamborough Head and James was delivered as a prisoner to