James II survived the civil strife of the first half of his reign and eventually emerged as a masterful ruler who consolidated his power throughout the kingdom.
The only surviving son of King James I, he succeeded to the throne at the age of six upon his father's assassination (February 1437). Because he was too young to take control of the government, the strong central authority that his father had established quickly collapsed. In the ensuing turmoil three rival families--the Crichtons, the Livingstons, and the Douglases--fought to gain control of the young king.
James finally assumed his royal duties upon his marriage to Mary of Gueldres in 1449. His first task was the restoration of monarchical authority. He immediately seized the Livingston estates, but he maintained an uneasy peace with the powerful Douglas family until 1450, when he quarreled with William, 8th Earl of Douglas. In February 1452 he stabbed the earl to death. Three years later James demolished the Douglas castles and confiscated their vast estates. The revenues from these lands enabled him to set up a strong central government and make improvements in the administration of justice.
James then turned his attention to the English, who had renewed their
claims to rule Scotland. He attacked English outposts in Scotland in 1456
and 1460. In the latter campaign he was killed during a siege of Roxburgh
Castle.
A weak monarch, James III was confronted with two major rebellions because he failed to win the respect of the nobility.
James received the crown at the age of eight upon the death of his father, King James II. Scotland was governed first by James's mother, Mary of Gueldres (d. 1463), and James Kennedy, bishop of St. Andrews (d.1465), and then by a group of nobles headed by the Boyds of Kilmarnock, who seized the king in 1466. In 1469 James overthrew the Boyds and began to govern for himself. Unlike his father, he was, however, unable to restore strong central government after his long minority. He evidently offended his nobles by his interest in the arts and by taking artists for his favourites. In 1479 he arrested his brothers, Alexander, Duke of Albany, and John, Earl of Mar, on suspicion of treason. Albany escaped to England, and in 1482 English troops entered Scotland and forced James to restore Albany to his domains. During this invasion dissident Scottish nobles hanged James's favourites. By March 1483 the king had recovered enough power to expel Albany.
Nevertheless, even without English aid to his discontented subjects, James was unable to ward off revolts. In 1488 two powerful border families, the Homes and the Hepburns, raised a rebellion and won to their cause his 15-year-old son, the future king James IV. James III was captured and killed after his defeat at the Battle of Sauchieburn, Stirling, on June 11.
An energetic and popular ruler, he unified Scotland under royal control, strengthened royal finances, and improved Scotland's position in European politics. James succeeded to the throne after his father, James III, was killed in a battle against rebels on June 11, 1488. The 15-year-old monarch immediately began to take an active part in government. He extended hisauthority to the sparsely populated areas of western and northern Scotland and by 1493 had humbled the last lord of the Isles. Although his reign was internally peaceful, it was disturbed by wars with England. Breaking a truce with England in 1495, James prepared an invasion in support of Perkin Warbeck, a pretender to the English throne. The war was confined to a few border forays, and a seven-year peace was negotiated in December 1497, though border raids continued. Relations between England and Scotland were further stabilized in 1503, when James married Margaret Tudor, the eldest daughter of the English king Henry VII. This match resulted, a century later, in the accession of James's great-grandson, the Stuart monarch James VI of Scotland, to the English throne as King James I. James IV's growing prestige enabled him to negotiate as an equal with the rulers of continental Europe, but his position was weakened as he came into conflict with King Henry VIII of England (ruled 1509-47). In1512 James allied with France against England and the major continental powers. When Henry invaded France in 1513, James decided, against the counsel of his advisers, to aid his ally by advancing into England. He captured four castles in northern England in August 1513, but his army was disastrously defeated at the Battle of Flodden, near Branxton, on Sept. 9, 1513. The King was killed while fighting on foot, and most of his nobles perished. James left one legitimate child, his successor, James V, in addition, he had many illegitimate children, several of whom became prominent figures in Scotland. True to the ideal of the Renaissance prince, James strove to make his court a centre of refinement and learning. He patronized literature, licensed Scotland's first printers, and improved education.
Falkland, Fife)
During the period of his minority, which lasted throughout the first half of his reign, James was a pawn in the struggle between pro-French and pro-English factions; after he assumed personal control of the government, he upheld Roman Catholicism against the Protestant nobles and allied his country with France.
James was 17 months old when he succeeded to the throne of his father, James IV (ruled 1488-1513). In the power struggle that developed between the pro-French regent, John Stewart, duke of Albany, and the head of the English party, Archibald Douglas, earl of Angus, each side sought to gain possession of the young ruler. James's mother, Margaret Tudor, complicated events by shifting her allegiance from her husband, Angus, to Albany.
Albany retired to France in 1524, and Angus kept James in confinement from 1526 until 1528, when the King escaped and forced Angus to flee to England. By 1530 James had consolidated his power in Scotland. He signed a treaty with his uncle, King Henry VIII of England, in 1534, but in 1538 he married the French noblewoman Marie de Guise and thereafter allied with France against England. A cruel man, he instituted in his later years a near reign of terror in Scotland, and his financial exactions did not endear him to his subjects.
When Henry VIII's forces attacked Scotland in 1542, James's small army, weakened by the disaffection of the Protestant nobles, crossed into England and was easily routed near the border at Solway Moss on Nov. 24, 1542. The disaster caused the King to suffer a mental breakdown, he died on Dec. 14, 1542, a week after the birth of his daughter--his only surviving legitimate child--Mary Stuart (Mary, Queen of Scots). Among his several illegitimate children was James, earl of Moray (died 1570), who became regent of Scotland when Mary Stuart abdicated her throne in 1567.
