James V of Scotland
| James V | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Anonymous portrait of James V, probably contemporary | |
|
|
|
| Reign | 9 September 1513 – 14 December 1542 |
| Coronation | 21 September 1513 |
| Predecessor | James IV |
| Successor | Mary I |
| Regent | Margaret Tudor (1513–14)
Robert Maxwell, 5th Lord Maxwell council of Regency (1536) and Regent Isle of Arran (1513-?) |
| Spouse | Madeleine of Valois (1537) Mary of Guise (1538—) |
| Issue | |
| James Stewart, Duke of Rothesay Mary, Queen of Scots Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany |
|
| House | House of Stewart |
| Father | James IV of Scotland |
| Mother | Margaret Tudor |
| Born | 10 April 1512 Linlithgow Palace, West Lothian |
| Died | 14 December 1542 (aged 30) Falkland Palace, Fife |
| Burial | Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh |
James V (10 April 1512 – 14 December 1542) was King of Scots from 9 September 1513 until his premature death at the age of 30, which followed the Scottish defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss. His only surviving legitimate child, Mary, Queen of Scots, succeeded him to the throne when just six or seven days old.
Contents |
Early life
The son of King James IV of Scotland and his queen, Margaret Tudor of England, he was born on 10 April 1512, at Linlithgow Palace, West Lothian, and was just seventeen months old when his father was killed at the Battle of Flodden Field on 9 September 1513.
He was crowned in the Chapel Royal at Stirling Castle on 21 September 1513. During his childhood, the country was ruled by regents, first by his mother, Margaret Tudor (sister of King Henry VIII of England), until she remarried the following year, and thereafter by John Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany, who was himself next in line for the throne after James and his younger brother, the posthumously-born Alexander Stewart, Duke of Ross. Other regents included Robert Maxwell, 5th Lord Maxwell a member of the council of Regency and who was also bestowed as Regent of Arran the largest island in the Firth of Clyde. At Stirling, the 10 year old James had a guard of 20 footmen dressed in his colours, red and yellow. When he went to the Park below the Castle, 'by secret and in right fair and soft wedder (weather),' six horsemen would scour the countryside two miles roundabout for intruders.[1] In 1525, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, the young king's stepfather, took custody of James and held him as a virtual prisoner for three years, exercising power on his behalf. James finally escaped in 1528 and assumed the reins of government himself.
Reign
His first action as king was to remove Angus from the scene, and he then subdued the Border rebels and the chiefs of the Western Isles. James increased his income by tightening control over royal estates and from the profits of justice, customs and feudal rights. He also gave his illegitimate sons lucrative benefices, diverting substantial church wealth into his coffers. James spent a large amount of his wealth on building work at Stirling Castle, Falkland Palace, Linlithgow Palace and Holyrood and built up a collection of tapestries from those inherited from his father.[2] James V did not tolerate heresy and during his reign, a number of outspoken Protestants were persecuted. The most famous of these was Patrick Hamilton who was burned at the stake as a heretic at St Andrews in 1528.
In 1540 he sailed to Kirkwall in Orkney, then Lewis, in his ship the Salamander, first making a will in Leith, knowing this to be 'uncertane aventuris.'[3]
Illegitimate children
James V had nine known illegitimate children, at least three of whom were fathered before the age of 20.[4] In addition to these aristocratic liaisons, David Lyndsay described the king's other affairs in the poem, The Answer to the Kingis Flyting: 'ye be now strang lyke ane elephand, And in till Venus werkis maist vailyeand.'[5]
Many of the sons of his aristocatic mistresses entered ecclesiastical careers.
- Adam Stewart, (d. 20 June 1575), son of Lady Elizabeth Stewart (daughter of John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Lennox.
Prior of the monastery of Charterhouse, Perth. Buried at St. Magnus, Kirkwall; tombstone survives.[6] - James Stewart, son of Christine Barclay
- Jean Stewart (d. 7 January 1588), daughter of Elizabeth Bethune.
Married Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll in 1553, divorced in 1573 due to desertion. - James Stewart (c. 1529-1557), son of Elizabeth Shaw.
Abbot of Kelso Abbey, Roxburgh. - Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Orkney, son of Euphame Elphinstone
Prior of Holyroodhouse Monastery and, after the Scottish reformation, its commendator. - John Stewart, Lord Darnley (c. 1531 - November 1563), son of Elizabeth Carmichael.
Prior of Coldingham Monastery in Inverness and, after the Scottish reformation, its commendator. He married the sister and heiress of James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell and fathered Francis Stewart, 1st Earl of Bothwell. - James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, son of Margaret Erskine, James' favorite mistress.
Advisor and rival to his half-sister, Mary, Queen of Scots and regent for his nephew, James VI. - Robert Stewart (d. 1581), mother unknown.
Prior of Whithorn. - Margaret Stewart, mother unknown.
Marriages
.jpg)
James renewed the Auld Alliance of Scotland with France and fulfilled the 1517 treaty of Rouen, on 1 January 1537, by marrying Madeleine of Valois, daughter of Francis I of France in Notre Dame de Paris. During his stay in France, in October 1536, James went boar-hunting at Loches with Francis, his son the Dauphin, the King of Navarre and Ippolito II d'Este.[7] At his entry to Paris, James wore a coat described as 'sad cramasy velvet slashed all over with gold cut out on plain cloth of gold fringed with gold and all cut out, knit with horns and lined with red taffeta.'[8] James V so liked red clothing that, during the wedding festivities, he upset the city dignitaries who had sole right to wear that colour in processions. They noted he could not speak a word of French.[9] Madeleine did not enjoy good health. They returned from France on 19 May 1537, arriving at Leith, the Scottish fleet accompanied with ten great French ships.[10]
Following her death in July 1537, he proceeded to marry by proxy, on 12 June 1538, Mary of Guise, daughter of Claude, Duke of Guise and widow of Louis of Orleans, Duke of Longueville. Mary already had two sons from her first marriage, and the union produced two sons, James Stewart, Duke of Rothesay (b. 22 May 1540), and Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany (b. 1541). However, both died in April 1541, just eight days after baby Robert was baptised. In 1542, their daughter Mary, later Queen of Scots, was born.
Outside interests
According to legend, James was nicknamed "King of the Commons" as he would sometimes travel around Scotland, disguised as a common man, describing himself as the Gudeman of Ballengeich ('Gudeman' means 'landlord' or 'farmer', and 'Ballengeich' was the nickname of a road next to Stirling Castle - meaning 'windy pass' in Gaelic[11]). James was also a keen lute player.[12] As a patron of poets and authors he supported William Stewart and John Bellenden, who translated the Latin History of Scotland compiled in 1527 by Hector Boece, and Sir David Lindsay of the Mount who produced an interlude at Linlithgow Palace in 1540 thought to be a version of his play The Thrie Estaitis.
War with England
The death of his mother in 1541 removed any incentive for peace with England, and war broke out. Initially the Scots won a victory at the Battle of Haddon Rig in 1542, but later that year, they suffered a serious defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss. He took ill shortly after this, by some accounts this was a nervous collapse caused by the defeat, although some historians consider that it may just have been an ordinary fever. An English chronicler suggested another cause was his discomfort on hearing of the murder of the English Somerset Herald at Dunbar.[13] John Knox later described his final movements in Fife.[14] Whatever the cause of his illness, he was on his deathbed at Falkland Palace when his only surviving legitimate child, a girl, was born. He was buried at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh.
Before he died, he is reported to have said, "it came wi a lass, it'll gang wi a lass" ("It began with a girl and it will end with a girl"). This was a reference to the Stewart dynasty, and how it came to the throne through Marjorie, daughter of Robert the Bruce. As it happened, his words came true, although not with his daughter Mary but with the last monarch of the House of Stewart, Queen Anne, who was his great-great-great-granddaughter. James may have said this since during the reign of his own french educated daughter Mary the traditional Scottish House of Stewart became the french spelling of House of Stuart, and the dynasty would later end that way.
Aftermath
James was succeeded by his infant daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots. He was buried at Holyrood Abbey alongside Madeleine and his sons by Mary of Guise. Scotland was ruled by Regent Arran and was soon drawn into the war of the Rough Wooing.
Titles, styles, honours, and arms
Titles and styles
| Royal styles of James V, King of Scots |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Reference style | His Grace |
| Spoken style | Your Grace |
| Alternative style | Sire |
- 10 April 1512–9 September 1513: The Duke of Rothesay
- 9 September 1513–14 December 1542: His Grace The King
James's full style prior to acceding the throne was Prince James Stewart, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Lord Renfrew, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland
Ancestors
| Ancestors of James V of Scotland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References
- ↑ Historic Manuscripts Commission, Earl of Mar & Kellie at Alloa House, (1904), 11-12, Ordinance for keeping James V, 3 August 1522.
- ↑ Dunbar, John G., Scottish Royal Palaces, Tuckwell (1999)
- ↑ Historic Manuscripts Commission, Earl of Mar & Kellie at Alloa House, (1904), 15, Will 12 June 1540: Cameron, Jamie, James V, Tuckwell (1998), 245-248.
- ↑ The Peerage — James V
- ↑ Williams, Janet Hadley ed., Sir David Lyndsay, Selected Poems, Glasgow (2000), 98-100, 257-9.
- ↑ Clouston, J. Storer, PSAS, "Some further early Orkney armorials". http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/PSAS_2002/pdf/vol_053/53_180_195.pdf. (1919), 186.
- ↑ Hollingsworth, Mary, The Cardinal's Hat, Profile Books, (2004), 117.
- ↑ Robertson, Joseph, Inventaires de la Royne d'Ecosse, Bannatyne Club, (1863), xii-xiii, note citing Thomson, Collection of Royal Inventories, (1815), 80-81.
- ↑ Teulet, Piéces et documents inédits relatifs a l'histoire d'Ècosse, Bannatyne Club (1852), 122-125
- ↑ State Papers Henry VIII, vol. 5 part 4 cont., (1836), 79, Clifford to Henry VIII.
- ↑ Black's Picturesque Tourist of Scotland, Pages 180-181
- ↑ "The Court of Mary, Queen of Scots". BBC Radio 3. 28 February 2010.
- ↑ Grafton's Chronicle, vol. ii, London (1809), 488.
- ↑ Knox, John, "from History of the Reformation, book 2,". http://www.nls.uk/scotlandspages/timeline/15422.html.
Further reading
- Cameron, Jamie (1998), Macdougall, Norman, ed., James V: The Personal Rule, 1528–1542, The Stewart Dynasty in Scotland, East Linton: Tuckwell Press, ISBN 1-86232-015-4
- Dawson, Jane (2007), Scotland Reformed 1488–1587, The New Edinburgh History of Scotland, 6, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 0-7486-1455-4
- Donaldson, Gordon (1965), Scotland: James V to James VII, The Edinburgh History of Scotland, III, Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, ISBN 0-901824-851
- Dunbar, John (1999). Scottish Royal Palaces. Tuckwell Press. ISBN 186232042X.
- Thomas, Andrea (2005), Princelie Majestie: The Court of James V of Scotland, Edinburgh: John Donald, ISBN 0-85976-611-X
- Williams, Janet Hadley (1996), Stewart Style 1513-1542, Edinburgh: Tuckwell Press, ISBN 1-898410-82-8
- Williams, Janet Hadley (2000), Sir David Lyndsay, Selected Poems, Glasgow: ASLS, ISBN 0-948877-46-4
- Wormald, Jenny (1981), Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland 1470–1625, The New History of Scotland, 4, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 0-7486-0276-3
|
James V of Scotland
Born: 10 April 1512 Died: 14 December 1542 |
||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by James IV |
King of Scots 9 September 1513 – 14 December 1542 |
Succeeded by Mary I |
| Scottish royalty | ||
| Preceded by John Stewart, Duke of Albany |
Heir of Scotland as heir apparent 10 April 1512 – 9 September 1513 |
Succeeded by John Stewart, Duke of Albany |
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||
