James I of Scotland

James I
King of Scots
Reign	4 April 1406 – 21 February 1437
Coronation	2/21 May 1424
Predecessor	Robert III
Successor	James II
Spouse	Joan Beaufort
Issue	Margaret, Dauphine of France Isabella, Duchess of Brittany Eleanor, Archduchess of Austria Mary, Countess of Buchan Joan, Countess of Morton Alexander, Duke of Rothesay James II of Scotland Annabella, Countess of Huntly
House	House of Stewart
Father	Robert III of Scotland
Mother	Annabella Drummond

James I, king of Scots (1394 - 21 February 1437) was the youngest son of Robert III and Annabella Drummond. He is also generally recognized as the author of the medieval dream vision the Kingis Quair. He was born probably in late July 1394 in Dunfermline and by the time he was aged eight both of his elder brothers were dead. Robert died in infancy, and David, duke of Rothesay died in Falkland Castle while being detained by his uncle Robert Stewart, duke of Albany. Although parliament exonerated Albany of involvement in Rothesay's death, fears for James's safety grew during the winter of 1405–6 and plans were made to send him out of harms way to France. In February 1406 James in the company of forces loyal to Robert III clashed with those of the Albany–Douglas party forcing the prince to take temporary refuge on the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth. He remained there until mid-March when a vessel was found bound for France but English pirates captured the ship on 22 March and delivered James to Henry IV of England. On 4 April Robert III died and the 12 year old prince, now the uncrowned king of Scots, began his 18 year detention.

In captivity, James was educated at the English court where he developed respect for English methods of governance and for Henry V to the extent of serving in the English army against the French during 1420–1. Albany's son, Murdoch, held a prisoner in England following his capture in 1402 was traded by his father for Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland in 1416. This furthered James's suspicions of the intent of the Albany Stewarts. By the time James was ransomed in 1424, Murdoch had succeeded his father to the dukedom and the governorship of Scotland. In April 1424 James accompanied by his wife Joan Beaufort, daughter of the earl of Somerset, returned to Scotland but it was not altogether a popular re-entry to Scottish affairs having fought on behalf of Henry V and at times against Scottish forces in France. Additionally his £40,000 ransom meant increased taxes for repayments and the detention of Scottish nobles as collateral. Despite this, James also held qualities that were admired. The contemporary Scotichronicon by Walter Bower described James as excelling at sport, in literature and music. Unlike his father and grandfather he did not take mistresses but had many children by his consort, Queen Joan. The king had a strong desire to impose law and order among his subjects but applied it selectively at times.

James, in attempts to bolster his authority and to secure the position of the crown, launched pre-emptive attacks on his nobles including his close relatives, the Albany Stewarts who were almost wiped out in 1425. In 1428 in Inverness, James had Alexander, lord of the Isles detained while attending a parliament—Archibald, earl of Douglas was arrested in 1431 followed by George, earl of March in 1434. The ransom hostages held in England were forgotten about and the repayment money was diverted into the construction of his Linlithgow Palace and other grandiose schemes.

In August 1436, James failed humiliatingly in his siege of Roxburgh Castle and then faced an ineffective attempt by Sir Robert Graham to arrest him at a general council. James was murdered at Perth on the night of 20–1 February 1437 in a failed coup by his kinsman and former ally Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl. Queen Joan and her son, now James II escaped to the safety of Edinburgh Castle.

Prince and Steward of Scotland

The lands held by Prince James in regality

James was born probably in late July 1394 in Dunfermline where, and at Scone, he would have spent most of his early childhood in his mother Annabella's household. He was seven years old when his mother died in 1401 and a year later his elder brother David, duke of Rothesay was probably murdered by their uncle Robert Stewart, duke of Albany after being held at Albany's Falkland Castle. Prince James was now heir to the throne and the only impediment to the transfer of the royal line to the Albany Stewarts. In 1402 Albany and his close ally Archibald, earl of Douglas were absolved from any involvement in Rothesay's death and Albany was once again appointed king's lieutenant. Albany rewarded Douglas for his support by allowing him to resume hostilities with England. The Albany and Douglas affinity received a severe set-back in September 1402 when their large army was defeated at Homildon and a large number of prominent nobles and adherents were captured including Douglas himself, Albany's son Murdoch, and the earls of Moray, Angus and Orkney (Orkney was quickly ransomed). That same year, as well as the death of Rothesay, Alexander Leslie, earl of Ross and Malcolm Drummond, lord of Mar had also died. These events provided a vacuum in both the north and south of the country—in the north an enforced reconciliation took place between Albany and his brother Alexander, earl of Buchan and Buchan's son, also Alexander, who would soon become earl of Mar, while in the south Henry, earl of Orkney and Sir David Fleming, both firm supporters of Robert III, sought to take advantage of the loss of Douglas from his Lothian and border power base.

In December 1404 the lands known collectively as the Stewartry in Ayrshire and around the Clyde were granted to James by his father in regality and so out of Albany's reach but also designed to act as a territorial base should he require it. In 1405 James was under the protection of Bishop Henry Wardlaw of St Andrews while the prince's supporters Orkney and Fleming, as not confronting Albany's interests, began to play an increasingly important role in border politics and Scottish dealings with England and by doing so built up Douglas resentment. The decision to send the young prince to France and out of Albany's reach was taken in the winter of 1405–6. Even though, James's departure from Scotland was unplanned. In February 1406 Bishop Wardlaw placed the prince into the care of Orkney and Fleming who with a large mounted force proceeded from St Andrews through Fife and into hostile Douglas east Lothian. This was probably to show that James's custodians had royal approval and also to further their influence in Douglas country. This provoked a fierce response from James Douglas of Balvenie who fought and killed Fleming while Orkney managed to escape with James to the comparative safety of the Bass Rock in the Forth estuary. They lived on the rock for more than a month before a ship from Danzig bound for France took them on board. On 22 March 1406 the ship was taken by English pirates off Flamborough Head and James became a prisoner of King Henry IV of England. Robert III was at Rothesay Castle when he learned of his son's capture and died soon afterwards on 4 April 1406 and was buried in the Stewart foundation abbey of Paisley.

King in captivity

James, now the uncrowned king of Scotand, began his 18 years of detention in the Tower of London while at the same time, Albany moved seamlessly from his position as lieutenant to that of governor. Albany took James's lands under his own control depriving the king of income and any of the regalia of his position and was referred to in records as 'the son of the late king'. The king did have a small household of Scots paid for by the English—these included Henry Sinclair, earl of Orkney, Sir David Fleming's nephew, Alexander Seton and Orkney's brother John Sinclair after the earl's return to Scotland. James maintained contact with his subjects during his captivity including his cousin Murdoch Stewart, Albany's son, who had been held prisoner since 1402—initially they were held apart but from 1413 until Murdoch was released in 1415 they were together in the Tower and at Windsor Castle. While being held at Windsor sometime between July 1417 and late 1419, a failed attempt by dissidents to rescue James from Windsor Castle was carried out.

From 1419 the English king Henry V's treatment of James changed from regarding the Scottish king as a hostage to one more of a guest at his court. James's value to Henry became apparent in 1420 when he accompanied the English king to France where his presence was used against the Scots fighting on the Dauphinist side. Following the success of breaking the siege of Melun, a town southeast of Paris, the Scots were hanged for treason against their king. After returning to England, James attended Queen Catherine's coronation on 23 February 1421 receiving an honoured position of sitting immediately on the queen's left at the coronation banquet. In March, Henry began a circuit of the important towns in England to emphasise the strength of his rule during which he knighted James on St Georges day. By July, the two kings were back campaigning in France where James, who clearly approved of Henry's methods of kingship, seemed content to endorse Henry's desire for the French crown. Henry appointed the Duke of Bedford and James as the commanders of the siege of Dreux on 18 July 1421 which was successfully completed following the garrison's surrender on 20 August. On 31 August 1422, Henry died of dysentry and James accompanied the funeral retinue back to England in September.

The infant HenryVI's ruling council was inclined to have James released as soon as possible. In the spring and summer of 1423 their attempts to resolve the issue met with little response from the Scots, clearly influenced by the Albany Stewarts and adherents. From 1421, Archibald, earl of Douglas had been in regular contact with James and they formed an alliance that was to prove pivotal in 1423. Douglas was the most powerful of the Scottish magnates but his position in the borders and Lothians was threatened—not only did he have to forcibly retake Edinburgh Castle from his own appointed deputy but was probably under pressure from the earls of Angus and March. In return for James's endorsement of Douglas's position in the kingdom, the earl was able to deliver his affinity in the cause of the king's home-coming. Also the relationship between Murdoch—now Duke of Albany following his father's death in 1420—and his own appointee Bishop William Lauder seemed to be under strain perhaps indicating an influential grouping at odds with Murdoch's stance. Pressure from these advocates for the king almost certainly compelled Murdoch to agree to a general council in August 1423 when it was agreed that an embassy should be sent to England to negotiate James's release. James's relationship with the House of Lancaster changed in February 1423 when he married Joan Beaufort, a cousin of Henry VI and the niece of Thomas, duke of Exeter and Henry, bishop of Winchester. A ransom of £40,000 was agreed at Durham in March 1424 and in April Albany's regency ended with James's return to Scotland.

Personal rule

James returned to a Scotland whose economy had, since the 1380s, been in deep recession and nobles such as the earl of Douglas being owed emoluments for their national appointments were accustomed to using customs revenue to augment their income—by 1422 Albany's fees for his governorship had also been in arrears. It was against this backdrop that James's coronation took place at Scone on 21 May 1424. At his coronation parliament the king, probably with the intent of securing a cohesive political community loyal to the crown, knighted 18 prominent nobles including Albany's son Alexander Stewart. Called primarily to discuss issues surrounding the finance of the ransom payments, the parliament heard James underline his position and authority as monarch and substantially improved crown income by ensuring the revocation of the customs grants that royal predecessors and guardians had handed out as patronage. Despite this, James was dependent on the nobility, especially Douglas, for their support and initially adopted a non-confrontational stance. The early exception to this was Walter Stewart, Albany's son. Walter was the heir to the earldom of Lennox and had been in open revolt against his father during 1423 for not giving way to his younger brother Alexander for this title—he also disagreed with Albany's acquiescence to the return of James to Scotland. With Albany's seeming approval, James had Walter arrested on 13 May 1424 and detained on the Bass Rock. At this stage, it is probable that the king felt he was unable to move against the rest of the Albany Stewarts while Albany's brother, John Stewart, earl of Buchan and the earl of Douglas were heroically fighting the English in France. Buchan possessed an international reputation and commanded a large Scottish army fighting on the Dauphinist side—both he and Douglas, fell at the Battle of Verneuil and the Scottish host routed which consequently left Albany without the bolster of a large returning Buchan led army.

References

• Boardman, Stephen (2007), The Early Stewart Kings: Robert II and Robert III, 1371–1406, The Stewart Dynasty in Scotland Series, Edinburgh: John Donald, an imprint of Birlinn Ltd, ISBN 1-904607-68-3

• Brown, Michael (1994), James I, East Linton, Scotland: Tuckwell Press, ISBN 1-86232-105-1

• Brown, M. H. (2004), James I, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.), Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/14587, retrieved 16 May 2010

• Brown, M. H. (2004), Stewart, John, third earl of Buchan (c.1380–1424), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.), Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/14587, retrieved 30 June 2010

• Brown, M. H. (2004), Stewart, Murdoch , second duke of Albany (c.1362–1425), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.), Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/14587, retrieved 30 June 2010

• Boardman, S. I. (2004), Stewart, David, duke of Rothesay (1378–1402), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.), Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/26468, retrieved 12 June 2010

• Penman, Michael (2001), "Robert III in The House of Stewart, 1371–1625", in Oram, Richard (ed.), The Kings & Queens of Scotland, Stroud, Gloustershire: Tempus Publishing Ltd, ISBN 0 7524 1991 9

• Stevenson, Katie (2006), 'Chivalry and knighthood in Scotland, 1424-1513, Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, ISBN 1-84383-192-9

Children with Joan Beaufort

• Margaret Stewart, Princess of Scotland (1424–1445) married Louis XI of France
• Isabella Stewart, Princess of Scotland (1426–1494) married Francis I, Duke of Brittany
• Eleanor Stewart, Princess of Scotland (1433–1484) married Sigismund, Archduke of Austria
• Mary of Scotland, Countess of Buchan died 1465 married Wolfert VI van Borselen
• Joan of Scotland, Countess of Morton (c. 1428-1486) married James Douglas, 1st Earl of Morton
• Alexander Stewart, Duke of Rothesay (born and died 1430); elder twin of James II
• James II of Scotland (1430–1460)
• Annabella Stewart, Princess of Scotland married and divorced 1. Louis of Savoy, and then married and divorced 2. George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly.

Ancestry

Family of James I of Scotland

16. James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland 8. Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland 17. Cecilia de Dunbar 4. Robert II of Scotland 18. Robert I of Scotland 9. Marjorie Bruce 19. Isabella of Mar 2. Robert III of Scotland 10. Adam Mure of Rowallan 5. Elizabeth Mure 1. James I of Scotland 24. Sir Malcolm Drummond, 9th of Lennox 12. Sir Malcolm Drummond, 10th of Lennox 25. Margaret Graham 6. Sir John Drummond, 11th of Lennox 26. Sir Patrick de Graham 13. Margaret de Graham 27. Annabelle Graham 3. Anabella Drummond 14. Sir William de Montifex 7. Mary Montifex