Editing James I of Scotland (section)

=== Conspiracy and regicide ===
[[File:Blackfriars monastery perth.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The [[Blackfriars, Perth|Blackfriars]] monastery, Perth (now lost)]]
[[File:Murder of James I of Scotland in 1437.png|thumb|left|1698 [[etching]] by [[Jan Luyken]] of the assassination of James I]]

The reaction against the king at the general council had shown Atholl that not only was James on the back foot but his political standing had received a huge setback and may have convinced the earl that James's killing was now a viable course of action.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', p. 182</ref> Atholl had seen how assertive action by two of his brothers at different times had allowed them to take control of the kingdom and that as James's nearest adult relative, the earl must have considered that decisive intervention on his part at this time could prove to be equally successful.<ref>Brown, ''Atholl and the Death of James I'', p. 31</ref><ref group=note>{{further|Robert III of Scotland}}

Both of Atholl's older brothers in the senior royal line had taken matters into their own hands. In 1384 John Stewart, Earl of Carrick (the future Robert III) engineered a coup that sidelined his father, Robert II, and was appointed lieutenant to rule Scotland. In turn, Carrick was removed from power by his brother Robert Stewart, Earl of Fife (the future Duke of Albany) in 1388. Albany arrested Robert III's son David Stewart, Duke of Rothesay, who was probably murdered in Albany's castle in 1402.</ref>

The conspiracy against the king seems to have been heavily influenced by the Albany Stewarts' destruction in 1425. Their judicial killing and forfeiture of their lands influenced the servants who administered and depended on these estates for their living. Atholl, under whose service several of these disgruntled Albany men appear, filled the void created by this. Among them were the brothers Robert and Christopher Chambers, and Sir Robert Graham, who only three months before had tried to arrest the king at the Perth council.<ref>Brown, ''Atholl and the Death of James I'', pp. 31–37</ref> Even though Robert Chambers was a member of the Royal household, the old Albany ties were stronger.<ref>Brown, ''Atholl and the Death of James I'', p. 35</ref>

{{see|Catherine Douglas}}
A general council was held in Atholl's heartland in Perth on 4 February 1437 and crucially for the conspirators, the king and queen had remained in the town at their lodgings in the [[Blackfriars, Perth|Blackfriars]] monastery.<ref>Brown, ''Atholl and the Death of James I'', pp. 34–38</ref> In the evening of 20 February 1437 the king and queen were in their rooms and separated from most of their servants.<ref name="MacQuarrieKingship"/><ref name="McGladdery, pp. 140, 143">McGladdery, ''The Kings & Queens of Scotland: James I'', pp. 140, 143</ref> Atholl's grandson and heir Robert Stewart, the king's chamberlain, allowed his co-conspirators — thought to number about thirty and led by Robert Graham and the Chambers brothers — access to the building.<ref name="MacQuarrieKingship"/><ref name="McGladdery, pp. 140, 143"/> James was alerted to the men's presence, giving the king time to hide in a sewer tunnel, but with its exit recently blocked off to prevent tennis balls from getting lost,<ref name="Morgan">Roger Morgan, ''The silver ball of rattray: a note on an early form of tennis, The International Journal of the History of Sport, Vol. 8, Issue 3, 1991.'' "bot he maid to stop hit well iij dayes afore hand with stone, bicause that whane he playd there at the paume [handball] the ballis that he plaid withe oft ranne yn at that fowle hole (Shirley 1837, 56)." (Shirley, J (ed) 1837 ''The Dethe of the Kynge of Scotis.'' Maitland Club. Glasgow.)</ref> James was trapped and murdered.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', p. 187–188</ref>