James I of Scotland

James I of Scotland

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James I of Scotland

James I (December 10, 1394 – February 21, 1437) was nominal King of Scots from April 4, 1406, and reigning King of Scots from May 1424 until February 21, 1437.

Early life
Attempted escape from Scotland
Return to Scotland
Children with Joan Beaufort
Reign as king
See also
References
External links

Early life

Born on December 10, 1394, the son of Robert III and Annabella Drummond, he had an eventful childhood. In 1402 his elder brother, David, starved to death in prison at Falkland in Fife.

Attempted escape from Scotland

Before the death of his father in 1406 the authorities sent James to France for safety. During his journey to France, the English captured the young prince and handed him over to Henry IV of England, who imprisoned him and demanded a ransom. Robert III allegedly died from grief over the capture of James. James's uncle, Robert Stewart, 1st Duke of Albany, who became Regent on the death of Robert III, showed no haste in paying for his nephew's release. Albany secured the release of his own son Murdoch, captured at the Battle of Homildon Hill, but not so with James. So for the next 18 years James remained a prisoner/hostage in England. Henry IV had the young Scots King imprisoned and educated in Windsor Castle and in secure large country houses near London.

Scholars believe that during his captivity James wrote The Kingis Quair, an allegorical romance, one of the earliest major works of Scottish literature.

Return to Scotland

After the death of James's uncle in 1420, the Scots finally paid the ransom of £40,000, and in 1424 James returned to Scotland to find a country in chaos. He took his bride with him – he had met and fallen in love with Joan Beaufort, a cousin of King Henry VI of England, while imprisoned. He married her in London in February 2, 1423. They had eight children.

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 Wolfart VI van Borsselen
Joan of Scotland, Countess of Morton (c. 1428-1486) married James Douglas, 1st Earl of Morton
James II of Scotland (1430-1460)
Alexander Stewart, Duke of Rothesay (born and died 1430); Twin of James
Annabella Stewart, Princess of Scotland married and divorced 1. Louis of Savoy, and then married and divorced 2. George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly.

Reign as king

James was formally crowned King of Scotland at Scone Abbey, Perthshire, on May 2 or 21, 1424. He immediately took strong actions to regain authority and control. In one such action he had the Albany family, who had opposed his actions, executed. The execution of Murdoch, Duke of Albany, and two of Murdoch's sons took place on May 24, 1425 at Castle Hill, Stirling.

James ruled Scotland with a firm hand, and achieved numerous financial and legal reforms. For the purpose of trading with other nations, he made Scots coinage exchangeable for foreign currency only within Scottish borders. He also tried to remodel the Parliament of Scotland along English lines. In foreign policy he renewed the Auld Alliance, an alliance with the French, in 1428.

James was born at Dunfermline Palace.

His actions throughout his reign, though effective, upset many people. During the later years of his reign, they helped to lead to his claim to the throne coming under question.

James I's grandfather, Robert II, had married twice and the awkward circumstances of the first marriage (the one with James's grandmother Elizabeth Mure) led some to dispute its validity. Conflict broke out between the descendants of the first marriage and the unquestionably legitimate descendants of the second marriage over who had the better right to the Scottish throne. Matters came to a head on February 21, 1437, when a group of Scots led by Sir Robert Graham assassinated James at the Friars Preachers Monastery in Perth. He attempted to escape his assailants through a sewer. However, three days previously, he had had the other end of the drain blocked up because of its connection to the tennis court outside, balls habitually got lost in it. (See also: Catherine Douglas.)

A wave of executions followed, of those who had participated in the plot, in March 1437. The authorities executed (among others) James's uncle, Walter Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl, and Atholl's grandson, Robert Stewart, Master of Atholl — both of them descended from Robert II's second marriage).

References

E W M Balfour-Melville, James I King of Scots, London 1936
Peter Wordie and Lance St John Butler (1989). "Tennis in Scotland" in The Royal Game. Stirling: Falkland Palace Real Tennis Club. ISBN 0-9514622-0-2 or ISBN 0-9514622-1-0.