JAMES I., King of
Scotland,
one of the best of our old poets, the third son of Robert III., by
Annabella Drummond, was born at Dunfermline in 1394. After the
untimely and mysterious death of his elder brother, David, duke of
Rothesay, King Robert resolved to send James to the court of France to
complete his education, which had been begun under Walter Wardlaw,
bishop of St. Andrews. Accordingly, in 1405, when only eleven years of
age, the young prince sailed from his native country, under the care
of the earl of Orkney, but his vessel being taken by an English
squadron, in violation of a truce which at this time subsisted between
England and Scotland, he was carried prisoner to the Tower of London,
where he remained for two years, and was afterwards transferred to
Windsor castle. Though kept in close confinement, he was instructed in
every branch of knowledge which that age afforded, and became also
eminently expert in all athletic exercises. He acquainted himself
especially with the art of government, and made observations on the
mode of administering justice, in a country which had been earlier
civilized and was more advanced in the knowledge of law than the one
he was destined to govern. His father having died of grief at his
capture, his uncle, Albany, and after his death his son Murdoch, ruled
as regent in his absence.
[portrait of James I]
In 1421 Henry V. of England took James with him in his second
expedition against France, in the hope of detaching the Scots
auxiliaries from the French service; and on his return recommitted him
to Windsor Castle. The captive monarch cheered the gloom of his prison
by the consolations of philosophy and poetry, in the latter of which
he excelled. He appears particularly to have studied the writings of
Chaucer and Gower. At length, after a captivity of nearly nineteen
years, he was restored, when in his 30th year, to his
kingdom, by the duke of Bedford, then regent of England, and he
returned to Scotland in April 1424, having espoused the Lady Joanna
Beaufort, daughter of the duke of Somerset, of the blood royal of
England. This lady was the fair beauty described in his choice poem of
‘The King’s Quhair,’ or Book, of whom he became enamoured on seeing
her, from his window, walking in the royal gardens at Windsor castle,
and who, he says, had
“Beauty enough to make a world to doat.”
Finding that the duke of Albany, and his son Murdoch, had
alienated most of the royal possessions, and reduced the kingdom to a
state of anarchy and lawless disorder, he caused the latter, with his
two sons, and the aged earl of Lennox, to be executed as traitors, and
their estates to be confiscated to the Crown. By the enactment in
parliament of wise and judicious laws he endeavoured to curb the
enormous power of the nobility, and to improve the condition of the
people, which, while it rendered him popular with his subjects
generally, drew upon him the hatred and indignation of his nobles, who
had long acted beyond the control of the law. Besides appointing
judges to administer and enforce the laws in every county, he ordered
standard weights and measures to be made, encouraged learned men,
erected public schools, which he liberally endowed, and finding the
resources of the kingdom greatly diminished, and trade much neglected,
he invited various manufacturers from Flanders, whom he liberally
encouraged to settle in Scotland.
In 1436 he renewed the alliance with France, giving his eldest
daughter Margaret, princess of Scotland, in marriage to the dauphin.
She was only twelve years old when she married the French prince, who
was scarcely a year older. She died in August 1445, in her
twenty-second year, her death having been occasioned by a slanderous
imputation by one of the courtiers. Her marriage was an unhappy one;
her husband, afterwards the demotic and superstitious Louis XI., being
the most cruel, treacherous, and malignant monarch that ever sat on
the French throne, albeit he was the first of France who was styled
“Most Christian King.” It was his maxim Dissimuler c’est regner.
One of his creatures, Jamet de Villy, falsely accused the princess of
being unfaithful to her husband. The innocent princess was so
overwhelmed by the infamous accusation that she took to her bed, and
pined away, overcome by grief. Before she expired, she exclaimed, “Ah!
Jamet, Jamet, you have gained your purpose.” The story was afterwards
proved to be false, and Jamet declared to be a “scoundrel” and “common
liar.” Louis XI. Is admirably represented in Scott’s graphic novel of
“Quentin Durward.” A portrait of the princess on horseback is given in
Pinkerton’s Scottish portraits, vol. i.
A fruitless attempt of the English to intercept at sea the
princess on her passage, with the delay of redress for sundry inroads
committed by them, induced James to declare war against England.
Raising an army, amounting, it is said, to 200,000 men, he laid siege
to Roxburgh castle, then held by the English, but after fifteen days’
investment, not being supported by his barons, and being informed,
according to some writers, of a conspiracy against his life, he
disbanded his forces, and retired to the monastery of the Dominicans
or Black Friars, in Perth, where he had resolved to celebrate the
festival of Christmas. On his journey thither a Highland woman, who
pretended to be a soothsayer, but who in reality was acquainted with
the designs of the conspirators, appeared before the king and his
attendants, as he was about to pass the Firth of Forth at Queensferry.
Her wild and singular attitude astonished James. “My lord and king,”
she exclaimed, “if you pass over this water, you will never return
alive.” James was startled at her language, and an old prediction
occurred to his recollection, that the king of Scotland would be slain
that year. He ordered one of his retinue to ride to the woman, and ask
the meaning of her mysterious intimation, but she merely repeated what
she had said to the king, that if he passed the Scottish sea, as the
Firth of forth was anciently designated, he would never return alive.
She was asked who gave her this information, and she replied that she
received it from a man named Hubert, most probably a domestic in the
service of the king. The intimation of the woman was unfortunately
disregarded. The king and his attendants passed on, believing her to
be, what he who questioned her described her, “a drunken fool who knew
not what she said.”
The principal conspirator against the king was Sir Robert
Graham, uncle of Malise, earl of Strathearn. He had been imprisoned by
James in 1425, when he took summary vengeance on the family of the
duke of Albany. In a meeting of the Estates in 1424, a statute had
been enacted to ascertain the lands which belonged to the Crown at the
decease of Robert I., and James was authorised to demand the
production of all charters and writs of tenure. Under pretence that
the earldom of Strathearn was a male fee, the king gave the liferent
of it, in 1426, to his uncle, Walter, earl of Athol and Caithness,
grand-uncle of Malise, who was thus divested of his earldom; but as a
recompense the king assigned to him the earldom of Menteith. Athol,
who was at that time approaching his seventieth year, was the son of
Robert II. By Euphemia Ross, the second queen of that monarch; and his
grandson, Sir Robert Stuart, was in great favour with James, who
appointed him private chamberlain at court. Sir Robert Graham,
indignant at the divestment and transfer of his nephew’s dignity,
began to intrigue with the earl of Athol and his grandson, who were
both ambitious, intimating that if the king was dead, the crown would
of right devolve upon the latter. He soon found a number of desperate
adventurers to aid him in his plans, and he inflamed the people by
false statements of the proceedings of James, while he aggravated the
discontent of the nobles, already greatly irritated at their
diminished power and influence. In 1434, shortly after he had been
released from his imprisonment, he attended a meeting of the principal
nobility, where he expressed himself in the most outrageous manner
against James, who was then proceeding vigorously in his endeavours to
humble the feudal greatness of his barons. He maintained that the
execution of Murdoch duke of Albany and his sons had originated in the
avarice of the king, whose object was to possess their estates, and he
concluded a long harangue with saying, “My lords, if you will firmly
support me in what I shall say to the king, I will demand redress in
your presence, and I trust in God we shall be satisfied.” His proposal
was highly approved of, and the nobles present bound themselves to
support him.
When the Estates met in 1435, relying on the promises of aid he
had received, this daring conspirator rose, and advancing to the royal
seat, laid his hand on the king, and exclaimed, – “I arrest you in the
name of the estates of your realm now assembled, for, as your subjects
are bound and sworn to obey you in the administration of the laws, in
like manner you are compelled to defend your people, to govern by the
laws, so that you do not wrong them, but defend and maintain them in
justice.” Then turning to the nobles, he asked, “Is it not thus as I
say?” But, astonished at his boldness, and awed by the presence of the
king, they maintained a profound silence, and James immediately
ordered Graham to prison. He was soon after sent into banishment, when
he retired to the solitary fastnesses of the Highlands. As his estates
were forfeited, he proceeded to renounce his allegiance, and he sent
the king a mortal defiance, declaring that for his tyranny he would
destroy him, his wife and children, whenever he had an opportunity.
James immediately issued a proclamation, offering a large reward for
Graham, dead or alive. The other chief conspirators were Athol, Sir
Robert Stuart, and Christopher Chambers, one of the king’s domestics,
whom they had bribed.
The night fixed for carrying the plot into execution was that of
Ash Wednesday, being the 20th February, 1437. The earl of
Athol and his grandson attended the king that evening, and some time
after supper, the amusements of the court having been kept up till
alate hour, James called for the parting cup, and every one present
drank before retiring to rest. Shortly after midnight, Graham, with
three hundred Highlanders of Athol, was in possession of the convent,
having entered without being observed, or meeting the slightest
interruption. The king was in his own apartment, and was standing
before the fireplace in a kind of undress, gaily conversing with his
queen and a few of her ladies, when suddenly he heard the clashing of
arms in the courtyard, and the flashes of torches from without glared
through the room. As the noise waxed louder, the queen and her ladies
clung to each other, surrounding the king, but soon recovering their
presence of mind, they rushed to the door, which they found open, and
the bolts destroyed. The king, without arms or attendants, besought
them to keep the door fast as long as they could, while he examined if
escape were practicable. Finding the windows of the apartment strongly
barred, he seized the fire-tongs, and after a desperate exertion
succeeded in lifting a plant from the floor, which covered a kind of
square vault or cellar of narrow dimensions. Through this aperture he
dropped, and the flooring was carefully replaced. The room below was
full of dust, and by a sad fatality he had caused a small square
window, through which he could have easily escaped, to be built up
three days previously, on account of the tennis balls entering it,
when that game was played in the garden.
On the approach of the conspirators to the king’s apartment,
Lady Catherine Douglas thrust her arm into the bolt, while the other
ladies pressed against the door. But the delicate armbone was in a
moment broken by the violence of the assassins in bursting it open.
Several of the king’s attendants whom the noise had attracted, in
offering resistance, were killed, and among them Patrick Dunbar, a
brother of the earl of March. Not finding the king in the apartment,
and forgetting the cellar below the floor, the conspirators proceeded
to the adjoining rooms in search of him. Supposing that they had left
the convent, James called for sheets to draw him out of the place of
his confinement. With considerable exertion, the ladies removed the
plank, and were proceeding to extricate him, when one of them,
Elizabeth Douglas, fell into the cellar. At this unfortunate moment,
Christopher Chambers happened to pass along the gallery, and saw what
the ladies were doing. Calling to his associates, he entered the
apartment with a torch, and though the noise of his approach had
caused the ladies hastily to replace the board, he carefully examined
the floor, and soon perceived that a plant had been broken up. On
lifting it, he held the torch in the aperture, and beheld the king and
the lady. “Sirs,” he loudly cried, “the bridegroom is found for whom
we have been searching and carolling all night long.” The conspirators
broke up the floor, and one of them, named Sir John Hall, leaped into
the cellar, with a dagger in his hand. The king grappled him by the
shoulders, and dashed him to the ground. A brother of Hall descended,
and aimed at the king, but the blow was parried, and he was also
seized by the neck, and thrown down. Yet in vain did James attempt to
wrest a dagger from either; and in the struggle he cut his hands
severely.
Sir Robert Graham now appeared in the room, and instantly spring
into the cellar. Weary and faint by his former struggles, weaponless,
and profusely bleeding at the hands, James appealed to him for mercy,
as farther resistance was vain. “Thou cruel tyrant,” said Graham,
raising his dagger, “never didst thou show mercy to those of thine own
blood, nor to any gentleman who came in thy way; expect no mercy now.”
“Then,” entreated the king, “I implore thee, for the salvation of my
soul, to let me have a confessor.” “No,” replied the assassin, “no
other confessor shalt thou have than this dagger.” Graham plunged his
weapon into the king’s breast, and the ill-fated monarch fell,
mortally wounded. Graham and the two brothers, Hall, Then fell upon
him, and repeatedly stabbed him in various parts of the body even
after he was dead. In his breast there were no fewer than sixteen
wounds, any one of which would have produced death.
At the time of his assassination, James was in the 44th
year of his age, and the thirty-first of his nominal, though only the
thirteenth, of his actual reign. His death was universally bewailed by
the nation, and his inhuman murderers, who were all apprehended within
a month after, were put to death by the most horrible tortures.
James left a son, also named James, the subject of the following
article, and five daughters. A portrait of his queen, Jane or Joanna,
is in Pinkerton’s Scottish Gallery, taken from a rare print, and
subjoined is a woodcut of it.
[woodcut of Joanna, queen of James I]
One of his daughters, the princess Isabel, married in November
1442, Francis I., duke of Bretagne, having been affianced to him the
preceding year, when his father, duke John V., was alive. Argentré, in
his History of Bretagne, informs us that when the envoys of John
returned from Scotland, that prince was eager to know their opinion of
the princess. They informed him that she had beauty, health, and an
elegant person, but was very silent, and apparently simple. “My dear
friends,” said the duke, “I beg you will return to Scotland and bring
her to me; she is just such a wife as I desire for my son. Knowledge
does a woman more hurt than good; upon my soul, I shall have no other.
By the body of St. Nicolas, a woman is quite wise enough, when she can
distinguish her husband’s shirt from his waistcoat.” In Pinkerton’s
Scottish Gallery, where this celebrated reply is quoted, there is a
fine portrait of Isabel of Scotland, a copy from the engraving in
Lobineau’s Histoire de Bretagne, taken from the original painting in
the cathedral of Vannes, of which a woodcut is subjoined.
[woodcut of Isabella, daughter of James I]
James I. Holds a high rank among Scottish poets. The chief
memorial of his fame is his allegorical poem of ‘The King’s Quhair,’
the only manuscript copy of which in existence was discovered in the
Bodleian library at Oxford, by Lord Woodhouselee (see TYTLER,
Alexander Fraser), who, in 1783, first published it to the world, with
explanatory notes and a critical dissertation. To James is likewise
ascribed two humorous poems, entitled ‘Christ’s Kirk on the Green,’
and ‘Peblis to the Play,’ descriptive of the rural manners and
pastimes of that age. Historians relate that he was also a skilful
musician, and some attribute to him the composition of many of the
most favourite national melodies of Scotland. A list of the works
ascribed to James I. Will be found in Park’s edition of Walpole’s
royal and Noble Authors.
JAMES II. King of Scotland, succeeded to the throne, on the murder
of his father in February 1437, when only seven years of age, and
during his minority the public affairs were chiefly directed by
Chancellor Crichton, who had been the minister of James I.; while
Alexander Livingston was chosen keeper of the King’s person, but these
ministers unhappily disagreed, in consequence of which the country was
divided into two factions. When at length he assumed the government
into his own hands, James displayed a prudence and fortitude which
inspired hopes of an energetic reign. He succeeded in overawing and
nearly ruining the potent family of Douglas, which had so long
rivalled and defied the crown, and with his own hand stabbed the
eighth earl to the heart in Stirling castle, for refusing to break up
the treasonable confederacy which had been formed with the earls of
Crawford and Ross. He procured the sanction of parliament to laws more
subversive of the power of the nobles than had been obtained by any of
his predecessors. By one of these, not only all the vast possessions
of the earl of Douglas were annexed to the crown, but all prior and
future alienations of crown lands were declared to be void. He was
accidentally killed by the bursting of a cannon at the siege of
Roxburgh, August 3, 1460, in the 30th year of his age, and
the 24th of his reign.
He had married in 1450, the princess Mary, daughter of the duke
of Gueldres, by whom he left three sons and a daughter. On receiving
intelligence of her husband’s death, the queen hastened to the camp,
with her eldest son, James, then only in his seventh year, and boldly
exhorted the nobles to continue the siege, with the words, “I give you
another king.” The siege was in consequence vigorously pressed, when
the garrison surrendered, and the castle of Roxburgh was levelled with
the ground.
JAMES III.,
born in 1453, ascended the throne in 1460, being first proclaimed in
the town of Kelso. During his minority, the administration of public
affairs was committed to Robert, Lord Boyd, the chancellor, and the
archbishops of Glasgow and St. Andrews, and the bishop of Dunkeld, and
by them a treaty of peace with England was concluded for fifteen
years. On 13th July 1469, the king’s marriage was
celebrated with Margaret, daughter of the king of Denmark, who, in
name of dowry, made a permanent gift of the Orkney and Shetland isles
to the crown of Scotland. From a portrait of this princess, in
Pinkerton’s Scottish Gallery, the subjoined woodcut is taken.
[woodcut of Margaret, wife of James III]
Like his father and grandfather, James aimed at humbling the
power of the nobles, but far inferior to them in abilities and
address, he attached himself to persons of mean station, and treated
his nobility with coldness and neglect. Having detected a design
formed against him, in which his brothers, Alexander, duke of Albany,
and John, earl of Mar, were implicated, James seized their persons,
and committed Albany to Edinburgh castle, while Mar was murdered, it
is said, by the king’s command. Albany made his escape, and concluded
a treaty with Edward IV. Of England, in consequence of which he
returned to Scotland, with a powerful army under the duke of
Gloucester. James was compelled to implore the assistance of his
nobles, and while they lay in the camp hear Lauder, a conspiracy for
the destruction of the king’s favourites was formed among them, with
Douglas earl of Angus at its head, and the earls of Angus, Huntly, and
Lennox, with other barons of less note, forcibly entered the apartment
of their sovereign, seized all the favourites except one, Sir John
Ramsay, afterwards created earl of Bothwell, and without any form of
trial hanged them over the bridge of Lauder, in July 1482. James
himself, a prisoner in the hands of his rebellious barons, was
conveyed to Edinburgh castle, in which he was strictly confined for a
time, under the charge of his uncles, the earls of Buchan and Athol.
He soon obtained his liberation; but new conspiracies were entered
into, and the malcontent nobles having obtained possession of the
king’s eldest son, a youth of sixteen, they placed him at their head,
and openly proclaimed their intention of depriving James of a crown of
which, they declared, he had proved himself unworthy. Roused by his
danger, the king formed the design of retreating into the north, but
the rebellious lords advancing upon Edinburgh, he had scarcely time to
get on board one of the ships of Sir Andrew Wood, and cross over to
Fife, when he learned that the whole of the southern part of Scotland
had risen in arms. Proceeding towards the north, James issued orders
for assembling an army, and he speedily found himself at the head of a
well-appointed force of 30,000 men.
The two parties came to an engagement at Sanchie, near Stirling,
July 11, 1488. James fled at the first onset, was thrown from his
horse, carried into a miller’s hut, and by a person who, calling
himself a priest, was brought to confess him, he was treacherously
murdered, in the 36th year of his age, and 28th
of his reign.
The portrait of James III. And his son kneeling, as in the
altar-piece, originally painted, not later than the year 1484, of the
Collegiate church of the Holy Trinity, Edinburgh, which is given in a
separate steel plate, has been verified by Mr. David Laing, keeper of
the library of the Writers to the Signet, in an interesting and
valuable historical description, communicated to the Society of
antiquaries of Scotland, and inserted in the Proceedings of that body,
vol. iii., part 1, page 8. 1860. The original paintings, transferred
in consequence of a memorial addressed to her majesty, signed by the
dukes of Hamilton and Buccleuch, and other influential persons, to the
palace of Holyrood from Hampton Court, as the most appropriate place
for preserving authentic portraits of the royal family of Scotland,
have been, by authority of the lords commissioners of the treasury,
placed within frames of large plate glass, and raised on handsome oak
pedestals, so that both sides of the panels are exhibited to
advantage.
JAMES IV.,
eldest son of James III., by Margaret, princess of Denmark, was born
in March 1472, and succeeded to the throne in 1488. Naturally generous
and brave, and fond of magnificence, he soon acquired the confidence
of his nobles, and by his amiable and popular manners, and the
enactment of wise and salutary laws, obtained the affections of his
people. He excelled in all warlike exercises; and, by frequent
tournaments and other splendid exhibitions, he attracted to his court
not only his own nobility, but also many knights from foreign
countries. To acquaint himself with the wants, manners, and pursuits
of his subjects, he was also in the habit of mixing amongst them in
disguise. In 1503 he married Margaret, daughter of Henry VII. Of
England, an event which laid the foundation of the future union of the
two crowns. By the marriage treaty a peace was concluded with England,
which continued unbroken for nine years, during which time the
kingdom, under his beneficent government, enjoyed the utmost
tranquility and prosperity. Unfortunately, however, James’ impetuous
and chivalric character could ill brook some indications of hostility
shown by his brother-in-law, Henry VIII., soon after his accession to
the English throne; and, assembling a numerous army, he invaded the
northern counties of England, He was encountered by the earl of Surrey
at the head of 31,000 men, on the fatal field of Flodden, September 9,
1513, when the Scots army sustained a decisive overthrow, the king and
the choicest of his nobility being among the slain. James was in the
41st year of his age, and 26th of his reign, at
the time of this disastrous engagement, in which twelve earls,
thirteen lords, five eldest sons of peers, fifty gentlemen of note,
several dignitaries of the church, and about ten thousand common men,
were left on the field with their sovereign.
[portrait of James IV]
In the Iconographia Scotica of Pinkerton, there are two
portraits of this generous and magnificent monarch, one of them with a
falcon on his fist, and the other with a thistle in his hand, and a
chain round his waist. Historians describe his person as of the middle
size, and elegant, with a majestic countenance. Of the former
portrait, Pinkerton says: “The present curious and interesting
portrait is from a painting in the possession of Mr. Batsford, at
Fulham; which appears to have belonged to King Charles I. In the
catalogue of that king’s pictures, p. 87, there is this article:
‘Item, beside the door, the picture of King James IV. Of Scotland,
with a faulcon on his fist, done after an ancient water-coloured
piece; half a figure, so big as the life, in a carved frame. Length 3
f. 1. Breadth 2 f. 0. Done by Daniel Mytens.’ This invaluable piece is
in good preservation; and Mytens, who flourished in the reign of James
I. Of England, has shown great talent in the execution. The prototype
was probably a painting in distemper, in one of the Scottish palaces.”
JAMES V., son of the preceding, was only eighteen months old when
he succeeded to the throne, having been born in April 1512. Among the
persons who had the principal charge of his education were Sir David
Lindsay of the Mount, Gavin Dunbar, and John Bellenden. During his
minority, the queen-mother was appointed regent, in consequence of the
will left by her husband, although it was contrary to the Scottish
law; but after her marriage with the earl of Angus, John duke of
Albany was elected regent. In 1524, when only in his twelfth year, the
nobles, tired of the state of misrule into which the country had been
brought, and of the dissensions which prevailed among themselves,
requested the young king to assume the government. His power, however,
was merely nominal, as four guardians were appointed, by whom the
whole authority of the state was exercised in his name. The earl of
Angus, one of these, soon obtained the ascendency over his colleagues,
and he held the king in such restraint as induced James, in his
seventeenth year, to make his escape from the palace of Falkland, and
take refuge in Stirling castle, the residence of his mother. By the
most vigorous measures, the king now proceeded to repress disorders
and punish crime throughout the kingdom. Attended by a numerous
retinue, under the pretence of enjoying the pleasures of hunting, he
made progresses into the unsettled parts of the country, executing
thieves and marauders, and caused the law to be obeyed even in the
remotest parts of his dominions. The most memorable of his victims was
the border outlaw, Johnie Armstrong, who, on coming to pay his
respects to the king, was summarily hanged with all his followers.
In 1532 the college of justice or court of session was
instituted by James, modelled on the court of the parliament of Paris.
In 1535 James went over to France upon a matrimonial expedition,
and married Magdalene, eldest daughter of the French king, who died of
consumption within forty days after her arrival in Scotland. He
afterwards, in June 1538, espoused Mary of Guise, widow of the duke of
Longueville. His continual efforts to depress the nobility rendered
almost his whole reign disastrous. A rupture with Henry VIII. Led to
the battle of Solway Moss, one of the most inglorious in the Scottish
annals. The chief command of the Scots troops having been conferred on
Oliver Sinclair, a favourite of the king, the haughty and discontented
nobles indignantly refused to obey such a leader, and were, in
consequence, easily defeated by an inferior body of English. When the
tidings of this disaster reached James, he was struck to the heart
with grief and mortification.. Hastening to Edinburgh, he shut himself
up for a week, and then passed over to Falkland, where he took to his
bed. Meantime his queen had been delivered at Linlithgow of a
daughter, afterwards the unfortunate Mary, queen of Scots. On being
informed of this event, he exclaimed, “It (meaning the crown) cam with
a lass, and it will go with a lass,” and in a few days thereafter
expired, December 13, 1542, being only in the thirty-first year of his
age and twenty-ninth of his reign. His deathbed was peculiarly
affecting. A few of his most favoured friends and councillors stood
round his couch; the monarch stretched out his hand for them to kiss;
and regarding them for some moments with a look of great sweetness and
placidity, turned himself upon the pillow and expired. He left an only
daughter, the beautiful but unfortunate Mary, queen of Scots, an
infant of eight days old, to succeed to the crown, and amongst other
illegitimate children, a son, James, afterwards the famous Regent
Moray, his mother being the daughter of John, fourth Lord Erskine.
His love of justice endeared James V. to the people, who
conferred on him the proud title of “King of the Poor.” to gratify a
strong passion for romantic adventure, he used often to roam through
the country in disguise, under the name of “The Gudeman of Ballangeich.”
He is said to have been the author of the well-known ballad of ‘The
Gaberlunzie Man;’ and to him is also ascribed the popular old song of
‘The Jollie Beggar,’ both founded on his own adventures.
His person is described as having been of the middle size; his
form elegant and majestic, his face oval, his eyes blue, his hair
yellow. He had an aquiline nose, and the most striking features of the
Stuarts, from the accession of the family. His portrait, engraved for
the ‘Scottish Nation,’ is from one in Pinkerton’s Iconographia
Scotica, after a drawing in Lord Orford’s possession, copied from
a contemporary painting in the collection of the duke of Devonshire.
JAMES VI. Of Scotland, and I. Of England,
the son of Mary, queen of Scots, and Henry Lord Darnley, was born in
Edinburgh castle, June 19, 1566. In July of the following year, on the
forced resignation of his mother, James was crowned king at Stirling,
when he was scarcely more than a year old. Soon after his birth, he
was intrusted to the care of the earl of Mar, and his youth was passed
at Stirling castle, under the tuition chiefly of George Buchanan. He
was of a docile but timid disposition, and his progress in learning
was rapid. During his minority the kingdom was governed by regents, of
whom the earls of Moray and Morton were the most conspicuous. In 1578
James assumed the government into his own hands; and one of his first
acts was to reconcile the feuds of his nobility, whom, for that
purpose, he invited to a grand festival at Holyrood-house. He early
discovered that excessive propensity to favouritism which accompanied
him through life. His preference of the duke of Lennox and Captain
James Stewart, son of Lord Ochiltree, created earl of Arran, led to
the celebrated “Raid of Ruthven” in August 1582, when the confederated
nobles compelled him to dismiss them from his councils. In the
following May James made his escape from Ruthven castle, when he
recalled the earl of Arran, executed the earl of Gowrie for treason
(in May 1584), and banished most of the lords engaged with him in that
enterprise. In 1585 the banished nobles returned to Scotland with an
army, and succeeded in obtaining a pardon for themselves, as well as
the removal of the favourites from the king’s presence.
During the long imprisonment of his ill-fated mother, James
treated her with neglect; but when it became evident that Queen
Elizabeth was at length about to consummate her cruelty to Mary by
putting her to a violent death, he felt himself called upon to
interfere. He sent a letter of remonstrance to the English queen, and
appealed to his foreign allies for assistance. On receiving the
tidings of her execution, he exhibited every outward sign of grief and
indignation. He rejected with becoming spirit the excuses of
Elizabeth, and made preparations for war, but, conscious of the
inadequacy of his resources, no actual hostilities took place.
In 1589 James contracted a matrimonial alliance with Anne,
second daughter of Frederick, king of Denmark. The princess, on her
voyage, being, by contrary winds, driven back to Norway, James sailed
in quest of her, and after a winter passed in feasting and revelry in
Copenhagen, returned with his queen to Scotland in May 1590. For the
next ten years the history of his reign exhibits much turbulence and
party contention. In August 1600, while the kingdom was in a state of
unusual tranquility, occurred the mysterious affair called the Gowrie
conspiracy, one of the most inexplicable events in the annals of
Scotland. Historians have assumed that the earl of Gowrie and his
brother, Alexander Ruthven, had concerted a plan to assassinate the
king, in revenge for their father’s execution in 1584. On the 5th
of August 1600, he was at his palace of Falkland in Fife, enjoying his
favourite amusement of hunting, and at an early hour in the morning he
had mounted, with his suite, and was proceeding in search of game,
when he met Alexander Ruthven, who with great earnestness informed him
that he had seized a person in disguise, of a very suspicious
appearance, who held under his cloak a pot full of money, whom he had
confined in his brother’s castle at Perth for his examination. The
king conceiving him to be an agent of the Pope or the king of Spain,
was persuaded to proceed to Perth, taking with him only the duke of
Lennox, the earl of Mar, and about twenty others. Soon after his
arrival, while his retinue were partaking of a repast in an adjoining
apartment, Alexander requested James to follow him privately; and,
leading him up a staircase, through several rooms, the doors of which
he carefully locked behind them, came at last to a small study, where
there stood a man in armour, with a sword and dagger by his side. At
this strange sight, James started back, but Ruthven, snatching the
dagger, held it to his breast, saying, “Remember how unjustly my
father suffered by your command; you are my prisoner; submit to my
disposal, without resistance or outcry, or this dagger shall instantly
revenge his blood.” James made use of expostulations, entreaties, and
flattery, on which Ruthven left him in charge of the armed man, to
seek for his brother. In the meantime the king’s attendants became
impatient, and on inquiring for James, one of the servants hastily
appeared among them, and told them that his majesty had just ridden
off towards Falkland. All of them rushed out into the street; and the
earl, with the utmost eagerness, called for their horses. Alexander
Ruthven had, by this time, returned to the mysterious chamber where
the king was detained, and swearing now that there was no remedy, and
that he must die, proceeded to bind his hands. Unarmed as he was, the
king scorned to submit to such an indignity, but closing with his
opponent, a fierce struggle ensued. The man in armour, who had
hitherto stood motionless, threw up the window, and the king, dragging
Ruthven towards it, cried, with a wild and affrighted voice, “Treason!
Help! My lord of Mar! Help, help, I am murdered!” His attendants,
hearing his cries, and seeing at the window a hand which grasped his
neck, hastened to his assistance. Lennox and Mar, with the greater
number of the nobles, ran up the principal staircase, where, finding
all the doors shut, they endeavoured in vain to force a passage. But
Sir John Ramsay, of the Dalhousie family, one of the royal pages,
ascending by a backstair, called “the black turnpike,” found the door
of the apartment open; and seizing Ruthven, who was still struggling
with the king, struck him twice with his sword, and thrust him towards
the entrance, where he was met and killed by Sir Thomas Erskine and
Sir Hugh Herries. With his last breath he exclaimed, “Alas! I am not
to blame for this matter.”
On the death of his brother, Gowrie rushed into the room, with a
drawn sword in each hand, followed by seven of his people, well armed,
and a scuffle ensued, when Sir John Ramsay pierced the earl through
the heart, and he fell dead without uttering a word. The inhabitants
of Perth, with whom Gowrie was extremely popular, hearing of his fate,
ran to arms, and surrounded his house, threatening revenge. His
majesty endeavoured to pacify them, by speaking to them from a window,
and also by admitting the magistrates, to whom he fully detailed the
circumstances of the case; on which they dispersed, and he returned to
Falkland. Three of the earl’s accomplices were afterwards condemned
and executed at Perth, and diligent search being made for the person
concealed in the study, Andrew Henderson, the earl’s steward, upon a
promise of pardon, acknowledged himself to be the man. From his
confessions, however, and those of others implicated in the
transaction, it appeared that they were totally ignorant of the
motives which had prompted their master to such a deed. From the utter
want of preparation for an effective defence on the part of the
brothers, we are inclined to believe that they did not meditate the
death of the king, but merely to get possession of his person, the
only mode adopted in those days, by ambitious or discontented
noblemen, to obtain a change in the policy of the government, and to
render their own influence paramount. The subject has been very ably
investigated in ‘Pitcairn’s Criminal Trials,’ and the evidence
connected with it has already been referred to under the head of
GOWRIE, earl of.
For the next three years, James was in constant communication
with his ambassadors in England, and directed their measure, relative
to his succession to the crown of that kingdom, with a degree of skill
and knowledge of life which could scarcely have been expected from his
previous management of Scottish affairs.
In 1603, on the death of Queen Elizabeth, James succeeded to the
throne of England, when his style was changed to James I., being the
first king of that name in the sister country. He signalised his
accession to the English crown by bestowing a profusion of titles and
honours on both Scotsmen and Englishmen, but his undisguised
preference of his own countrymen excited the jealousy and complaints
of his new subjects. A conference held in the beginning of 1604, at
Hampton Court, between the divines of the established church and the
puritans, afforded James an opportunity of displaying his skill in
theological controversy, and of declaring his determination to oppress
all who dissented from episcopacy. His despotic and intolerant spirit
even led him to re-light the fires of persecution. In 1611 he caused
two of his English subjects, Bartholomew Legate and Edward Wightman,
to be burnt for heresy, the one at Smithfield, and the other at
Lichfield. On November 5, 1605, was discovered the famous Gunpowder
Plot, concerted by some English Roman Catholics, the object of which
was to blow up king and parliament; and, some time after, was also
detected a conspiracy entered into by Lord Cobham and others to place
the Lady Arabella Stuart on the throne.
In 1612 he lost his eldest son Henry, a prince of great promise.
In 1613 the eventful marriage of his daughter Elizabeth, with the
elector palatine of the Rhine, took place. James’ favourite at this
time was Robert Carr of Kerr, of the Kerrs of Fernihirst, a youth from
Scotland, whom he had created earl of Somerset. The scandalous murder
of Sir Thomas Overbury by the machinations of this minion and his
infamous countess, led to his disgrace at court, which paved the way
for the rise of George Villiers, duke of Buckingham. The unjust
execution of the gallant and accomplished Sir Walter Raleigh in 1618,
to please the court of Spain, has left a deep stain on James’ memory.
The close of James’ life was marked by violent contests with his
parliament, which prepared dreadful consequences for his son, Charles
I. He was also much disquieted by the misfortunes of his son-in-law,
the elector-palatine, who had been stripped of all his dominions by
the German emperor. By first undertaking the defence of the
Protestants of Germany, and then abandoning their cause, James
incurred considerable odium. Urged by natural feelings for the popular
cause, in 1624 he had declared war against Spain and the emperor. It
was not without great reluctance that he consented to this step, nor
would any considerations of national honour or interest have persuaded
him to it, had not his son Charles, and the favourite Buckingham,
supported it. The military expedition, however, to Holland proved a
miserable failure. The French court stood aloof from the struggle, and
the Dutch received their English allies with coldness and inhumanity.
Chagrined at the turn which affairs had taken, distracted by the
cabals of his courtiers, and irritated by what appeared to him the
arrogance of his parliament and the disloyalty of his people, James’
health, already shaken by the intemperate use of strong and sweet
wines, and repeated attacks of gout, began to give way. Early in the
spring of 1625, he was seized with tertian ague, and died on the 27th
March that year, in the 59th year of his age. His reign was
distinguished by the establishment of new colonies, the introduction
of manufactures, and the improvement of Ireland.
James, who shuddered at the sight of a drawn sword, was very
expert with his pen, and he prided himself much on his literary
abilities. Though dogmatical and pedantic, his learning was extensive,
and he had strong powers of mind when divested of prejudice. He
attempted poetry with considerable success. So fond was he of
polemics, that he founded Chelsea college expressly for controversial
theology. His grandson, Charles II., however, converted it into an
asylum for disabled soldiers. For the encouragement of leaning, James
also founded, in April 1582, the university of Edinburgh, and he
conferred a lasting benefit on all who speak the English language, by
the authorised version of the Holy Scriptures, still in use, which was
begun under his instructions, in 1604, and completed and published in
1611.
His works are:
The Essayes of a Prentise in the Divine Art of Poesie.
Edinburgh, 1584 and 1585, 4to. At that time his majesty was only in
his 18th year. After the Commendatory Poems in this volume,
follow twelve Sonnets, preceded by, Ane Quadrain of Alexandrin Verse;
Next succeed, The Vranie, being a Translation from Du Bartas; Ane
Metaphoricall invention of a Tragedie, called Phoenix; a
Paraphrastical Translation out of the Poete Lucane; ane Schort
Treatise, conteining some Revlis and Cautelis to be obseruit and
eschewit in Scottis Poesie. These Rules are the most curious portion
of the book, and are followed by, The ciiii. Psalme, translated ovt of
tremellivs; and ane schort Poeme of tyme. A new edition of this work
was given by R. P Gillies, in 1814.
Ane Fruitful Meditation, conteining ane plaine and facill
Expositioun of ye 7, 8, 9, and 10 fersis of the 20th Cahpt.
Of the Revelatioun, in forme of ane Sermone. Set doun be the maist
Christiane King, and synceir professour, and chief defender of the
treuth, Iames the 6, King of Scottis. Edin. 1588, 4to. In English,
entitled, The King’s Majestie of Scotland, James the 6th
his Fruitfull Meditation, containing an Exposition, or laying open of
Revel. xx. 7-10. First printed in Scottish, at Edenborough, 1588.
Since printed at London, 1589, and 1603, 8vo. This work was also
printed in French, at Rochelle, in 1589. Ane Meditatioun upon the
xxv., xxvii., and xxix. verses of the xv. Chapt. Of the first buke of
the Chronicles of the Kingis. Edin. 1589, 4to.
Poeticall Exercises, at Vacant Hours. Edin. 1591. 4to. This he
characterises as the work of his “verie young and tender years.”
Reprinted by R. P. Gillies in 1814.
Demonologie, in form of dialogue; divided into three books.
Edin. 1597, 1600, 4to. Lond. 1603, 4to.
The Questions to be resolvit at the convention of the Estaits
and Generall Assemblie, appointed to be at the burgh of Perth, the
last day of Februarie nixt to come. Edinburgh, 1597, 4to. These
questions, 55 in number, are subscribed James Rx.
Instructions to his sonne, Prince Henry, Edin. 1603, 12mo.
Baqsilicon doron; a Poem. Lond. 1603, 1604, 8vo. Paros, 1603,
1604, 8vo, and 16mo. A treatise to his son.
Jacobi M. Britanniae, &c. Regis Declaratio pro Jure Regio,
Sceptrorumque Immunitate; adversus Card. Peronii Orationem in Comitiis
Franciae generallibus ad Ordinem Plebium Parisiis habitam 18 Cal. Feb.
1615. Lond. 1616, 4to.
The True Lawe of Free Monarchies; or, the reciprock and mutuall
dutie betwixt a Free King and his Naturall Subjects. This has neither
date nor author’s name, but is placed in the collection of King James
VI.’s works. It and his ‘Basilicon doron’ contain many despotic
doctrines, in accordance with the extreme notions of the divine right
of kings which he entertained, but they are, nevertheless, works of no
ordinary merit.
Opera Latina, edente Ricardo Montacutio. Lond. 1619, fol. The
same in English, by Bishop Montacute. London, 1616, fol.
Learned Decisions, and most prudent and pious Directions for
Students in Divinity. 1629, 4to.
The Psalmes of King David, translated by King James. Oxf. 1631,
12mo. Lond. 1636, fol.
Counter-blast to Tobacco. To which is added, a learned Discourse
by Dr. Everard Maynwaring, proving that Tobacco is a procuring cause
of the Scurvy. Lond. 1672, 4to.
The Prince’s Cabala; or, Mysteries of State. 1715, 8vo.
The remaining publications of this monarch consist of Speeches,
Proclamations, &c. As,
His Speech in Parliament, March 19, 1603, London, 1604, 4to.
Speech in the last Session of Parliament; with a discourse of
the Manner of the Discovery of the late intended Treason. Lond. 1605,
4to. 1606, 8vo.
His speech in Parliament, March, 1607, Lond. 4to.
Speech to both Houses of Parliament. Lond. 1607, 4to.
His Judgement concerning a Real King and a tyrant, &c. Lond.
1609, 1618.
Booke of Proclamations. Lond. 1609, fol.
Publication of his Edict against Private Combats. Lond. 1613,
4to.
Speech in the Starre Chamber, June 20, 1616. London, 1616, 4to.
Declaration concerning Lawful sports to be used. Lond. 1618.
A Speech in parliament, a Proclamation, and a Declaration. Lond.
1621, 4to.
Vox Regis; or, the difference betwixt a King Ruling by Law, and
a Tyrant by his own will; in two Speeches of King James to the
Parliament, in 1603 and 1609. Lond. 1681.
