Colin IX (Prince of Caledon)
| Colin IX | |
| In office 972 to 1023 | |
| Preceded by | Laurence VII |
|---|---|
| Succeeded by | David I |
| Born | 940 |
| Died | 1023 |
Colin, 122nd Earl of Cairnwall, ascended to the throne on the death of his father, Laurence VII in 972 at age 27.
Colin was the second-longest-reigning sovereign Prince in Caledonian history - but his reign was a mixed bag of successes and failures.
A supporter of the government, parliamentary and military reforms that several generations of his forebears had championed, Colin was neither as skilled, as perceptive nor as passionate about governing as they had been.
While he was a capable administrator - with considerable help from his father's regent, Nigel "Nigel the Red" Rawsthorne - Colin IX's main interests were outside government. A passionate outdoorsman, he participated in sporting activities on Caledon's constituent worlds well into his forties.
He was also a famed philanthropist, driving the creation of the Caledonian Royal Aid Society, one of the largest sources of civil disaster relief.
However, he remained ignorant - some say willfully so - of the growing tensions between the Campbell and Maxwell lines, as he grew older without fathering an heir. His death - rather young, at 67, of causes that were both natural and, to some, suspicious - was the trigger, but by no means the cause, of half a year of feudal maneuvering before the Dynastic Crisis of 1024.