Return of the King (1)—state of the Highlands (2)—murder of James (3)—judicial reforms (4)—James II. (5)—Crichton and Livingstone (6)—the Douglases (7)—majority of James; fall of Douglas (8)—siege of Roxburgh (9)—James III. (10)—Orkney and Shetland (11)—relations with England (12)—revolt of the nobles (13)—battle of Sauchieburn (14)—Church matters (15)—James IV. (16)—English intrigues (17)—state of the Highlands (18)—differences with England (19)—battle of Flodden (20)—state of the Church (21)—James V. (22)—Albany's regency (23)—English interference (24)—the "Erection" (25)—fall of Angus (26)—internal affairs (27)—English war (28)—death of James; his character (29)—Mary (30)—treaties with England (31)—first English invasion (32)—second English invasion (33)—third English invasion; fight at Pinkie (34)—internal affairs (35)—Regency of Mary of Lorraine; first marriage of Mary Stewart (36)—social progress (37)—state of education and literature (38)—summary (39).
1. James I., 1424-1436. Return of the King.—In 1424 James came home and brought with him his English wife, Joan, daughter of the Earl of Somerset. As he had been taken in time of peace, a ransom could not decently be demanded, but the Scots were required to pay forty thousand pounds to defray the expenses of his eighteen years' maintenance and education. The King, now at last restored to his kingdom, let eight months pass quietly before taking vengeance on those who had so long kept him out of it. He spent this time in winning the confidence of the people and of the lesser barons. He then seized Albany, his two sons, and twenty-six other nobles at Perth, whither they had come to attend the Parliament. Albany and his two sons were tried before a jury of twenty-one peers, many of whom sat only to secure their own safety. They were found guilty of treason and put to death at Stirling. James himself presided at the trial, thereby reviving the ancient practice of the King's personal administration of justice.
2. The Highlands.—When James had thus got rid of his dangerous cousins, he turned his attention to the Highlands and Western Isles, which presented a strange mixture of Celtic and of feudal manners. They were ruled partly by Norman barons, and partly by native chiefs, and these barons or chiefs were both alike upheld by that personal devotion of their vassals which was the strong point of Celtic clanship. James summoned the chiefs to a parliament at Inverness in 1427. They obeyed the summons, and were at once seized and imprisoned. Three of them were hanged at that time. Several others shared the same fate at a later date. Others were imprisoned, and a small remnant only allowed to go away unhurt. Alexander, Lord of the Isles, was among these last, and the first use he made of his recovered liberty was to bring his islemen down on Inverness, which they destroyed. James hurried northward again and defeated him in Lochaber. Alexander gave himself up to the King's grace, and was confined in Tantalion Castle. But his kinsman, Donald Balloch, set himself at the head of the clans and they defeated the royal army. James determined to crush the Celts once and for ever. An additional tax was levied for the purpose, and James set out once more for the north. But the chiefs, who saw that the King was just then too strong for them, met him with proffers of homage and submission. Such submissions were, however, practically worthless. In the eyes of the Celts they were just as little binding as the parchment title-deeds by which the government sought to change their chiefs into feudal barons.
3. Murder of James.—The policy of James was to reduce the power of the baronage, and to balance it by strengthening the clergy and encouraging the commons. He made strict search into the titles by which the several nobles held their lands, and more especially into the actual state of the estates which had been held by the Crown in the time of Robert the First. He deprived the Earl of March of his earldom, on the ground that Albany, who had restored it to him, had not the power to confer upon him the estates which he had once forfeited by the transfer of his allegiance to England. James also took from Malise Grahame his earldom of Strathearn, which he had inherited through his mother, on the ground that it was a male fief. He therefore transferred it to the next male heir, Walter Stewart, Earl of Athole, grand-uncle of Grahame, the only surviving son of Robert the Second. These measures roused the dislike and distrust of the class they were aimed at, and a conspiracy was formed against the King. At its head was Sir Robert Grahame, uncle of Malise, who had been banished for denouncing the King's doings in Parliament. Through the connivance of the Earl of Athole, the High Chamberlain, the conspirators got entrance to the King's quarters, when he was keeping his Christmas in the monastery of the Black Friars at Perth, and there they treacherously murdered him, 1436. James left one son and five daughters. Margaret, the eldest, was married to the Dauphin, afterwards Louis the Eleventh of France.
4. Judicial Reforms.—James held many parliaments, and pretty nearly all are noteworthy for passing wise measures for the common good. In his first parliament, the "Committee of the Articles," which dated from the reign of David the Second, was acknowledged as an established part of the parliament. This committee was elected by the parliament at the beginning of its session, and nearly the whole power of the Estates was made over to the persons chosen to form it, who were called the Lords of the Articles. They consulted together and considered the Articles presented to them in parliament, which were then passed by the vote of the Estates and became law. This custom, by which the business of the whole parliament was left in the hands of a committee, was afterwards found to be the weakest point of the legislature, and paved the way for a great deal of bribery and corruption. Statute law in Scotland dates from this reign, as it was James who first caused a collection of statutes to be made, and separated those that were still in force from those that had fallen out of use. He also regulated weights and measures, and fixed a standard for the coinage, so that it should be of the same weight and fineness as the money in England. From his reign also dates the appointment of the office of Treasurer; the publication of the acts of parliament in the language spoken by the people; the first effort towards the representation of the lesser barons by commissaries; and an attempt to establish a supreme court of civil jurisdiction, which was to consist of the Chancellor and three other persons chosen by the Estates, and to sit three times a year. In order that the Scottish people might learn to compete with the English bowmen, James established schools in the different parishes for the practice of archery. In short, he strove in every way to make his people profit by what he had learnt and observed during his long exile in England. He was a patron of learning, and was himself a scholar and one of the earliest and best English poets. The longest of his poems is called the "King's Quhair" or book. In it he sang his love for his fair English bride in strains that prove him to have been a true poet. It is written in stanzas of seven lines each, a very favourite measure in those days, which was afterwards called the "roial rime" in memory of this poet-king.
5. James II., 1436-1460.—The young King, who was only six years old when his father was killed, was crowned at Holyrood, as Scone, the customary crowning-place, was too near the Highlands, where the conspirators had taken refuge, to be safe. He was then taken by his mother for greater security to Edinburgh Castle. The object of the murderers was to place on the throne the Earl of Athole, who, as being the son of the second marriage of Robert the Second, was looked on as the true heir by the party who held that the first marriage of that king was not valid. If this were their design, it was not seconded by the people, who were filled with sorrow and anger at the death of the King, who had made himself popular by all the good he had done for them. A hue-and-cry was raised after the murderers, who were taken and put to death with cruel tortures.
6. Crichton and Livingstone.—The first part of the reign was a struggle for the wardship of the King's person, which gave nearly royal power to whoever held it. The rivals for this honour were William Crichton, the Chancellor and governor of Edinburgh Castle; Alexander Livingstone, the governor of Stirling, the other great stronghold; and the Queen-mother. The Queen, who feared that Crichton would try to separate the young King from her if she stayed in Edinburgh, succeeded in getting herself and her child out of his hands by a stealthy flight to Stirling. But she soon found that they had only changed jailers, for Livingstone kept as strict a guard over the King as Crichton had done. A few years later she married Stewart, Lord of Lorn, after which she took no further part in public affairs. Her flight to Stirling gave Livingstone for a time the advantage in the possession of the King, till Crichton contrived to kidnap him back to Edinburgh. But as the rivals found that it would be more for the interest of each to act in concert with the other, they made an agreement, by which James was sent back to the custody of Livingstone.
7. The House of Douglas.—Archibald, Earl of Douglas, was at this time the most powerful baron in Scotland. Besides holding Galloway, Annandale, and other great estates in Scotland, he had inherited the Duchy of Touraine, which had been conferred on his father by the King of France for good service done against the English, and in his foreign duchy he possessed wealth and splendour beyond anything that the Scottish king could boast. The family still had a hold on the popular favour won for them by the Good Lord James. They had also some pretensions to the crown of Scotland, for Archibald, brother and heir of the Good Lord James, had married a sister of the Red Comyn, who was slain by Bruce. The Douglases therefore represented the claim of the Comyns, which, as we have seen, was better than that of Bruce. They were also descendants of Robert the Second, through Euphemia, one of the children of his second marriage, to whom those who looked on his first family as illegitimate held that the crown ought to have gone. Douglas had been chosen Lieutenant-Governor of the kingdom, and had ample power to quiet the rival parties had he chosen to exercise it. But he did not, and his nominal government was ended by his death in 1439. William, his son, who at seventeen succeeded to all this pride and power, kept up a state and retinue almost royal, and much violence and oppression were laid to his charge. Crichton and Livingstone agreed to compass his downfall, and for this end they invited him and his brother David to visit the King at Edinburgh. They came, were seized, and, after the form of a trial, were beheaded in the Castle-yard. The power of their house was thus broken for a time. The estates were divided; part went with the title to their grand-uncle James, the male heir, while Galloway went to their sister Margaret. But on the death of James they were re-united, for his son William married Margaret of Galloway, his cousin. He then went to court, to do his duty, as he said, to his sovereign, pretended that the King had chosen him Lieutenant-General of the kingdom, and got most of the power into his own hands. He and Livingstone joined, and tried to make Crichton give up the seals by besieging him in Edinburgh Castle; but he held out so well that they were forced to make terms with him. Douglas grew more proud and powerful every year. He was already lord of nearly all the southern country, and he joined in a bond with the great chiefs of the north,—the Lord of the Isles, who was now Earl of Ross, and Alexander, Earl of Crawford, the head of the house of Lindsay and representative of the fallen Earls of March. He held meetings of his vassals, to which he summoned all those who either were or, as he thought, ought to be his dependants. Nor did he scruple to put to death any who opposed him, in direct defiance of the King's commands. But as the Earl's retainers numbered 5,000, while the King had not so much as a bodyguard, his commands were not easily enforced. On one occasion the King sent Sir Patrick Gray to demand the release of his nephew, M'Lellan, tutor or guardian of the young Laird of Bunby, or Bomby, whom Douglas had put in ward because he failed to appear at one of the gatherings of his vassals. Douglas received him courteously, but said he could on no account hear the King's message till his visitor had dined. Meanwhile he had the prisoner brought out and beheaded. When he heard the King's order he feigned great respect for it, and, showing the body, said, "There lies your sister's son; he wants the head, but the body is at your service." Sir Patrick had to hide his anger as best he might till he had got safe out of his hands.
8. Majority of James. Fall of Douglas.—The King's majority was soon followed by the ruin of Livingstone. Douglas was too strong to be openly attacked. He was invited to Stirling and received in a friendly way. James remonstrated with him about the bonds, and urged him to break them off. Douglas refused. James in a fit of passion cried out, "If you will not break the bonds, this shall," and stabbed him. Sir Patrick Gray, who stood by, killed him with his pole-axe. They then threw the mangled body into the courtyard. This savage deed plunged the whole country into civil war. James, the brother and heir of the murdered Earl, openly defied the King; that is, he renounced his allegiance to him as a traitor and a perjured man. His cause was taken up by the parties to the bond, the Earls of Ross and Crawford. The King, who felt himself too weak to break the confederacy, was forced to turn to his own advantage the enmity among his nobles, and to pull down one house by building up another. This policy only changed the name of the rivals of the Crown, without getting rid of them, and it laid the foundation of the like troubles in future reigns. In the north James entrusted the conduct of the war to the head of the house of Gordon, whom he created Earl of Huntly, and whose lands lay between those of the banded Earls. In the south the Earl of Angus, the head of the Red Douglases as they were called, was made use of to overthrow the Black Douglases, the elder branch of the family. The question whether James Stewart or James Douglas should wear the crown was settled by a battle at Arkinholm, in Eskdale in 1454. Douglas was forsaken by many of his followers, and was defeated and fled to England. An act of forfeiture was passed against him and all his house, and, to prevent any one family again becoming so formidable, another act was passed, which made Galloway and certain other lordships and castles inalienable from the Crown. But, in spite of this, the greater part of the lands of the fallen Douglas went to his kinsman Angus. Many other families also, among them the Hamiltons, rose from the ruins of the Black Douglases. Sir James Hamilton, the head of the house, had been one of the adherents of the Earl, but he deserted to the royal side on the eve of the battle of Arkinholm.
9. Siege of Roxburgh.—As the strife which was at this time going on between the Yorkists and Lancastrians kept the English busy at home, there was comparative peace on the Border, broken only by an inroad from Percy and the banished Douglas. James took the part of Henry VI., and raised a large army with the intention of invading England in his favour. But there was no serious war, and James saw that there was now a good chance of winning back the towns which the English still held in Scotland. He therefore laid siege to Roxburgh, and was killed there by the bursting of a large cannon which he was watching with great interest. After his death the Queen urged on the siege, and Roxburgh was taken and destroyed. This siege is noteworthy as being among the first in which we hear of the use of artillery in Scotland. Another notable feature of it was the presence of the Lord of the Isles with an auxiliary force, for which service he was made one of the Wardens of the Border. James had married Mary, the daughter of the Duke of Gelders, and left four sons, the eldest only eight years old. The second university in Scotland was founded in this reign, at Glasgow, by Bishop Turnbull.