Editing James I of Scotland (section)

== Personal rule ==
=== First acts ===
[[File:Scone Palace 04.jpg|thumb|300px|Entrance and only remaining part of [[Scone Abbey]]]]

Throughout the 15th century, Scottish kings were financially constrained and James's reign was no exception. The Albany regency had been similarly limited, with Duke Robert governorship fees remaining unpaid.<ref>Lynch, ''Scotland: A New History'', pp. 143, 145</ref> Royal patronage ceased entirely following James's capture, leading to irregular forms of political favours, such as Albany allowing nobles like the Earl of Douglas and his brother James to withdraw funds from the customs.<ref>Grant, ''Independence and Nationhood'', p. 185</ref> James's coronation at [[Scone Abbey|Scone]] on 21 May 1424 occurred against this backdrop.  The coronation parliament of the [[Three Estates]] witnessed the king perform a knighthood ceremony for eighteen prominent nobles, including Alexander Stewart, Murdoch's son, likely aimed at fostering loyalty to the crown within the political community.<ref name="Stevenson, pp. 171–172">Stevenson, ''Chivalry and knighthood in Scotland, 1424–1513'' pp. 171–172</ref>

The parliament convened primarily to discuss issues related to ransom payments and heard James emphasize his authority as monarch. He successfully enabled legislation aimed at boosting crown income by revoking royal predecessors' and guardians' patronage. This move immediately impacted the earls of Douglas and Mar by preventing them from withdrawing large sums from customs.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', p. 48</ref>

Despite this action, James still relied on noble support—especially from Douglas—and initially took a less confrontational approach.<ref name="Brown M. H., James I, ODNB"/> Walter Stewart, Albany's son, was an early exception to this. Walter was heir to the earldom of Lennox and had been in open revolt against his father in 1423 for not giving way to his younger brother Alexander for this title. He also made no secret of his disagreement with his father's allowing James's return to Scotland.<ref name="Brown M. H., Murdoch Stewart, ODNB">Brown M. H., ''Murdoch Stewart'', ODNB</ref>

James had Walter arrested on 13 May 1424 and imprisoned on the Bass Rock—a move likely favourable both for Murdoch’s interests as well as James’s.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', p. 47</ref> Although hesitant about taking action against other members of the Albany Stewarts while Murdoch's brother, [[John Stewart, Earl of Buchan]], and [[Archibald, 4th Earl of Douglas]], were fighting against English forces in France.<ref>Lynch, ''Scotland: A New History'', p. 144</ref> Buchan was a leader with an international reputation and commanded the large Scottish army, but both he and Douglas were killed by English troops at the [[Battle of Verneuil]] in August 1424 and his army was crushed. The loss of Buchan, Douglas and the large fighting force left Murdoch exposed politically.<ref name="Brown M. H., Murdoch Stewart, ODNB"/><ref name="Brown M. H., John Stewart, ODNB">Brown M. H., ''John Stewart'', ODNB</ref>

=== A ruthless and acquisitive king ===
The death of Douglas at Verneuil would also weaken his son [[Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas|Archibald]], the fifth earl. On 12 October 1424, the king and Archibald met at [[Melrose Abbey]], ostensibly to agree to the appointment of [[Abbot of Melrose|John Fogo]], a monk of Melrose, to the abbacy.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', p. 52</ref> The meeting may also have been intended as an official acceptance of Douglas, but it signalled a change in the Black Douglas predominance vis-a-vis the crown and other nobles. Important Douglas allies died in France and some of their heirs realigned with rival nobles through blood ties, while at the same time, Douglas experienced a loosening of allegiances in the Lothians and, with the loss of his command over Edinburgh Castle, this all served to improve James's position.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', p. 53</ref> James continued to retain Black Douglas support, allowing him to begin a campaign of political alienation of Albany and his family. The king's bitterness, directed at Duke Murdoch, had its roots in the past—Duke Robert was responsible for his brother David's death. Moreover, neither Robert nor Murdoch exerted themselves in negotiating James's release and must have left the king with the suspicion that they held aspirations for the throne.<ref>McGladdery, ''James II'', p. 6</ref> Buchan's lands did not fall to the Albany Stewarts but were forfeited to the crown, Albany's father-in-law, [[Duncan, Earl of Lennox]], was imprisoned, and in December, the duke's main ally, [[Alexander Stewart, 1st Earl of Mar]], settled his differences with the king.<ref name="Brown M. H., James I, ODNB"/> An acrimonious sitting of parliament in March 1425 precipitated the arrest of Murdoch, Isabella, his wife, and his son Alexander — of Albany's other sons, Walter was already in prison and James, his youngest, also known as [[James the Fat]], escaped into the Lennox.<ref name="Brown M. H., Murdoch Stewart, ODNB"/>

[[File:Stirling Castle John Slezer.jpg|thumb|300px|left|[[Stirling Castle]], where the Albany Stewarts were executed.]]

James the Fat led the men of Lennox and Argyll in open rebellion against the crown and may have been what the king needed to bring a charge of treason against the Albany Stewarts.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', p. 63</ref> Murdoch, his sons Walter and Alexander, and Duncan, Earl of Lennox were in Stirling Castle for their trial on 18 May at a specially convened parliament. An assize of seven earls and fourteen lesser nobles was appointed to hear the evidence that linked the prisoners to the rebellion in the Lennox. The four men were condemned, Walter on 24 May and the others on 25 May, and immediately beheaded in 'front of the castle'.<ref name="Brown, James I, pp. 65–66">Brown, ''James I'', pp. 65–66</ref> James demonstrated a ruthless and avaricious side to his nature in the destruction of his close family, the Albany Stewarts, that yielded the three forfeited earldoms of Fife, Menteith and Lennox.<ref>MacQuarrie, ''Kingship and Nation'', pp. 215–216</ref> An inquiry set up by James in 1424 into the dispersal of crown estates since the reign of [[Robert I of Scotland|Robert I]] exposed legal defects in several transactions where the earldoms of Mar, March and Strathearn, together with the Black Douglas lordships of Selkirk and Wigtown, were found to be problematic. Strathearn and March were forfeited in 1427 and 1435, respectively.<ref>Grant, ''Independence and Nationhood'', p. 189</ref> Mar was forfeited in 1435 on the earl's death without an heir, which also meant that the lordships of Garioch and Badenoch reverted to the crown.<ref>MacQuarrie, ''Kingship and Nation'', p. 216</ref> James sought to boost his income further through taxation and succeeded in getting parliament to pass legislation in 1424 for a tax to go towards paying off the ransom — £26,000 was raised but James sent only £12,000 to England.<ref>Lynch, ''Scotland: A New History'', p. 145</ref> By 1429, James stopped the ransom payments completely and used the remainder of the taxation income on cannons and luxury goods from [[Flanders]].<ref name="auto1"/> Following a fire in the castle of Linlithgow in 1425, funds were also diverted to the building of [[Linlithgow Palace]], which continued until James died in 1437, and absorbed an estimated one-tenth of royal income.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', pp. 114–115</ref><ref>Historic Scotland, ''Investigating Linlithgow Palace''</ref>

=== Relations with the church ===
[[File:PapstEugen.jpg|right|thumb|250px|{{center|Pope Eugenius IV}}]]

James asserted his authority over the Church as well as the nobility and regretted that King [[David I of Scotland|David I]]'s benevolence towards the Church proved costly to his successors and that he was "a sair sanct to the croun".<ref>Grant, ''Independence and Nationhood'', p. 94</ref> James also considered that the monastic institutions particularly needed improvement and that they should return to being strictly ordered communities. Part of James's solution was to create an assembly of overseeing abbots and followed this up by establishing a [[Carthusians|Carthusian priory]] at [[Perth, Scotland|Perth]] to provide other religious houses with an example of internal conduct.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', pp. 116–117</ref> He also sought to influence church attitudes to his policies by having his own clerics appointed to the bishoprics of Dunblane, Dunkeld, Glasgow and Moray.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', pp. 117–118</ref>

In March 1425, James's parliament directed that all bishops must instruct their clerics to offer up prayers for the king and his family; a year later, parliament toughened up this edict, insisting that the prayers be given at every mass, under the sanction of a fine and severe rebuke.<ref>Watt, ''Medieval Church Councils'', p. 152</ref> This same parliament legislated that every person in Scotland should "be governed under the king's laws and statutes of this realm only". From this, laws were enacted in 1426 to restrict the actions of prelates whether it was to regulate their need to travel to the [[Roman Curia]] or their ability to purchase additional ecclesiastical positions while there.<ref>Watt, ''Medieval Church Councils'', p. 151</ref> In James's parliament of July 1427, it is evident that the statute being enacted was to limit the authority of church jurisdiction.<ref>Watt, ''Medieval Church Councils'', pp. 151–153</ref>

On 25 July 1431, the general council of the Church convened in [[Basel]], but the initial full meeting did not take place until 14 December 1431, by which time [[Pope Eugene IV]] and the council were in complete disagreement. It was the council and not the pope who requested that James send representatives of the Scottish church, and it is known that two delegates — Abbot [[Thomas Livingston]] of [[Dundrennan Abbey|Dundrenanan]] and [[John de Winchester]], canon of [[Elgin Cathedral|Moray]] and a servant of the king — were in attendance in November and December 1432.<ref>Watt, ''Medieval Church Councils'', pp. 153–154</ref> In 1433 James, this time in response to a summons by the pope, appointed two bishops, two abbots and four dignitaries to attend the council. Twenty-eight Scottish ecclesiastics attended at intervals from 1434 to 1437, but the majority of the higher-ranking churchmen sent proxy attendees; Bishops [[John Cameron (Scottish bishop)|John Cameron]] of [[Glasgow Cathedral|Glasgow]] and [[John de Crannach]] of [[Brechin Cathedral|Brechin]], however, attended in person, as did Abbot Patrick Wotherspoon of [[Holyrood Abbey|Holyrood]].<ref>Watt, ''Medieval Church Councils'', pp. 154–155</ref> Even during the Basel general council, Pope Eugenius instructed his legate, Bishop Antonio Altan of Urbino, to meet with James to raise the issue of the king's controversial [[barratry (common law)|anti-barratry]] laws of 1426.<ref>Watt, ''Medieval Church Councils'', pp. 155–156</ref><ref>Brown, ''James I'', p. 118</ref> The Bishop of Urbino arrived in Scotland in December 1436 and an apparent reconciliation between James and the papal legate had taken place by the middle of February 1437, but the events of 21 February, when James was assassinated, prevented the legate from completing his commission.<ref>Watt, ''Medieval Church Councils'', p. 156</ref>

=== Highland problem ===
The king called a general council in July 1428 in Perth to raise funds for an expedition into the Highlands against the semi-autonomous [[Lord of the Isles]]. The council initially resisted granting James the funds — even with royal support from the powerful Earls of Mar and Atholl — but eventually gave in to the king's wishes. Although it seemed that an all-out attack on the Gaels of the north was not the king's intention, James had resolved to use a degree of force to strengthen royal authority.<ref>Brown, James I, pp. 95–96</ref> He told the assembly:<ref>Brown, James I, p. 96</ref>

{{blockquote|I shall go and see whether they have fulfilled the required service; I shall go I say and I will not return while they default. I will chain them so that they are unable to stand and lie beneath my feet.}}

The leaders of the Gaelic kindreds in the north and west were summoned by James ostensibly to a sitting of parliament in [[Inverness]]. Of those assembled the king arrested around 50 of them including [[Alexander of Islay, Earl of Ross|Alexander]], the third Lord of the Isles, and his mother, [[Mariota, Countess of Ross]], around 24 August.<ref>Brown, James I, pp. 96–97</ref> A few were executed but the remainder, except Alexander and his mother, were quickly released.<ref>Brown, James I, p. 99</ref>

During Alexander's captivity, James attempted to split [[Clan Donald|Clann Dòmhnall]] — Alexander's uncle John Mór was approached by an agent of the king to take the clan leadership but he refused to have any dealings with the king while his nephew was held prisoner led to John Mór's arrest and murder by the king's agent.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', p. 100</ref>

[[File:Alexander of Islay.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Seal of [[Alexander of Islay, Earl of Ross|Alexander, Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles]].]]

The king's need for allies in the west and north led him to soften his approach towards the Lord of the Isles and, hoping that Alexander would now become a loyal servant of the crown, he was given his freedom.<ref>Brown, James I, p. 100</ref>  Alexander, probably under pressure from his close kinsmen Donald Balloch, John Mór's son, and Alasdair Carrach of [[Lochaber]], led an attack on the castle and burgh of Inverness in the spring of 1429.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', pp. 100–101</ref> The crisis deepened when a fleet from the Lordship was dispatched to bring James the Fat back from Ulster 'to convey him home that he might be king'. With James's intention to form an alliance with the Ulster O'Donnells of Tyreconnell against the MacDonalds, the English distrusted the Scottish king's motives and tried to bring James the Fat to England.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', p. 101</ref> Before he could become an active player, [[James the Fat]] died suddenly, releasing James to prepare for decisive action against the Lordship.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', pp. 101–102</ref>

The armies met on 21 June in Lochaber and Alexander, suffering the defection of Clan Chattan (the MacKintoshes) and Clan Cameron, was heavily defeated. Alexander escaped probably to [[Islay]] but James continued his assault on the Lordship by taking the strongholds of Dingwall and Urquhart castles in July.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', pp. 102–103</ref> The king pushed home his advantage when an army reinforced with artillery was dispatched to the Isles. Alexander probably realised that his position was hopeless and tried to negotiate terms of surrender but James demanded and received his total submission.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', p. 103</ref> From August 1429 the king delegated royal authority to Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar to keep the peace in the north and west.<ref>Brown,''James I'', p. 104</ref>

The Islesmen rose again in September 1431 and inflicted two important defeats on the king's men — Mar's army was beaten at [[Battle of Inverlochy (1431)|Inverlochy]] and Angus Moray's in a fierce battle near [[Tongue, Highland|Tongue]] in Caithness.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', pp. 138–139</ref> This was a serious setback for James and his credibility was adversely affected.<ref name="Brown, p. 139">Brown, ''James I'', p. 139</ref>

In 1431, before the September uprising, the king had arrested two of his nephews, John Kennedy of Carrick and Archibald, Earl of Douglas, possibly because of a conflict between John and his uncle, Thomas Kennedy in which Douglas may have become involved.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', pp. 133–134</ref> Douglas's arrest had raised tensions in the country and James acted to reduce the unrest by freeing the earl on 29 September — it was quite likely that the king made the earl's release conditional on support at the forthcoming parliament at Perth at which James intended to push for further funding for the campaign against the Lordship.<ref name="Brown, p. 139"/> Parliament was in no mood to allow James unconditional backing — he was allowed a tax to fund his Highland campaign but parliament retained full control over the levy.<ref name="Brown, pp. 139–140">Brown, ''James I'', pp. 139–140</ref> The rules parliament attached to the taxation indicated a robust stand against further conflict in the north and probably led to the turnaround that took place on 22 October when the king 'forgave the offence of each earl, namely Douglas and Ross [i.e. Alexander]'. For Douglas, this was a formal acknowledgement of his having been freed three weeks earlier, but for Alexander, this was a total reversal of crown policy towards the Lordship. Four summer campaigns against the Lordship were now officially at an end with James's wishes having effectively been blocked by parliament.<ref name="Brown, pp. 139–140"/>

=== Foreign policy ===
James's release in 1424 did not herald a new phase relationship in Anglo-Scottish relations. Contrary to the English council's hopes, the king emerged as a confident and independently-minded European monarch.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', pp. 109–111</ref> The only substantive matters of contention between the two kingdoms were the payments due under the terms of James's release and the renewal of the truce that would expire in 1430. In 1428 after setbacks on the battlefield [[Charles VII of France]] sent his ambassador [[Regnault de Chartres]], [[Archbishop of Rheims]] to Scotland to persuade James to renew the [[Auld Alliance]] — the terms were to include the marriage of the princess [[Margaret Stewart, Dauphine of France|Margaret]] to Louis, the [[dauphin of France]], and a gift of the province of [[County of Saintonge|Saintonge]] to James.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', pp. 109–110</ref> The ratification of the treaty by Charles took place in October 1428 and James, now with the intended marriage of his daughter into the French royal family and the possession of French lands, had his political importance in Europe boosted.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', pp. 110–111</ref>

[[File:Roxburgh Castle engraving by William Miller after W Brown.jpg|thumb|250px|left|[[Roxburgh Castle]], which James failed to win back from the English]]

The effectiveness of the alliance with France had virtually ceased after Verneuil and its renewal in 1428 did not alter that — James adopted a much more non-aligned position with England, France and Burgundy while at the same time opening up diplomatic contacts with [[Aragon]], [[Austria]], [[Castile and León|Castile]], [[Denmark]], [[Milan]], [[kingdom of Naples|Naples]] and the [[Vatican City|Vatican]].<ref>Grant, ''Independence and Nationhood'', p.48</ref>

Generally, Anglo-Scottish relations were relatively amicable and the truce, extended until 1436, helped the English position in France. Promises made in 1428 of a Scottish army to help [[Charles VII of France|Charles VII]] and the marriage of James's eldest daughter to the French king's son [[Louis XI|Louis]] were unrealised. James had to balance his European responses carefully, because England's key ally, the Duke of Burgundy, was in possession of the [[Low Countries]], a major trading partner of Scotland causing James's support for France to be muted.<ref>Grant, ''Independence and Nationhood'', p. 49</ref> The truce with England expired in May 1436, but James's perception of the Anglo-French conflict changed following a realignment of the combatants. The breakdown of the talks between England and France in 1435 precipitated an alliance between Burgundy and France, a request from France for Scottish involvement in the war, and for the fulfilment of the promised marriage of Princess Margaret to the [[Dauphin of France|Dauphin]].<ref>Brown,''James I'', p. 162</ref>

In the spring of 1436 Princess Margaret sailed to France, and in August Scotland entered the war, with James leading a large army to lay siege to the English enclave of [[Roxburgh Castle]].<ref name="Brown M. H., James I, ODNB"/> The campaign was to prove pivotal, the ''Book of Pluscarden'' describes ' ''a detestable split and most unworthy difference arising from jealosy'' ' within the Scottish camp and the historian Michael Brown explains that a contemporary source has James appointing his young and inexperienced cousin, Robert Stewart of Atholl, as the constable of the host ahead of the experienced [[March (territory)|march]] wardens, the earls of Douglas and Angus. Brown explains that both earls possessed considerable local interests and that the effects of such a large army living off the land may have created resentment and hostility in the area. When the militant prelates of York and Durham, together with the Earl of Northumberland, took their forces into the marches to relieve the fortress, the Scots swiftly retreated—a chronicle written a year later said that the Scots 'had fled wretchedly and ignominiously' — but what is certain is that the effects and manner of the defeat, together with the loss of their expensive artillery, was a major reversal for James both in terms of foreign policy and internal authority.<ref>Brown, ''James I'', pp. 164–165</ref><ref>Grant, ''Independence and Nationhood'', p. 50</ref>