James V

King of Scotland (r. 1513-1542)

• Born: April 10, 1512
• Birthplace: Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland
• Died: December 14, 1542
• Place of death: Falkland Palace, Fife, Scotland

James V’s effective fiscal and foreign policies kept a wealthy Scotland united and played key roles in international affairs. He was able to resist the Protestant Reformation’s attempt to sweep into Catholic Scotland, but his invasion of England led to defeat and to a fractured political community for his lone heir to the throne, Mary, Queen of Scots.

Early Life

In August, 1503, James Stewart’s parents, James IV, king of Scotland , and Margaret Tudor , the eldest daughter of Henry VII, king of England, had contracted a marriage that was meant to establish peace between their perennially hostile realms. As James IV’s effective financial administration and successful international diplomacy had brought great prestige to the Scottish crown, the infant James Stewart (and later James V) would have been born into a court characterized by relative political stability, teeming with material wealth and the newly imported notions of Renaissance culture.

The tranquility of the Scotland into which James was born, however, was soon disrupted, when James IV invited war with England by renewing, in 1512, Scotland’s traditional alliance with France. In September, 1513, James IV’s invasion of northern England led to a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Flodden Field, resulting in the death of James IV and much of the Scottish nobility. On September 21, 1513, the infant James found himself transformed into James V, after his coronation at the Chapel Royal in Stirling Castle.

For much of his youth, James V was subject to a chaotic political landscape, with various factions struggling for control of the king during the period of his minority. There had been much resistance to the regency of James’s mother, Margaret, who remarried in 1514, to Archibald Douglas, the earl of Angus. The key disputants among the Scottish nobility, who each sought to control the young James V, included the powerful Douglas family, as well as factions allied to James’s two closest relatives, who were both grandsons of James II John, duke of Albany, who for some years governed Scotland, and James Hamilton, the earl of Arran.

Life’s Work

In 1524, Margaret, again acting as regent of Scotland after the departure of Albany into France, enthroned James, providing him with the symbols of his power as king of Scotland and thereby ending the governorship of Albany. A compromise was made, whereby control of the young king would alternate among the key players in the Scottish nobility. The earl of Angus, who had earlier divorced Margaret, destroyed the delicate arrangements for the custody of James V when he kidnapped the young king in 1526 and proceeded to exploit James, whose period of minority he had declared over, enriching his own Red Douglas supporters for some two years. In 1528, James V escaped from the control of the earl of Angus and began to rally his supporters.

Over the next year, he and his adherents battled with the Douglases, eventually driving the earl of Angus into England. Over the next ten years, James pursued a vendetta against the Douglas family, which had exploited him during the tumultuous years of his minority. In July, 1537, Janet, lady of Glamis, the sister of the earl of Angus, was burned to death after being convicted of treason, while in August, 1540, James Hamilton of Finnart, a Douglas adherent, was also executed for treason. In December, 1540, James appears to have completed his vengeance against the Douglases, appropriating as Crown possessions the Angus estates, through the Act of Annexation. Apart from his harassment of the Douglases, however, James seems to have enjoyed relatively stable relations with the Scottish nobility throughout the period of his mature reign.

In 1536, James departed for France, appointing a committee of six nobles to rule in his absence. In January of 1537, James signaled his desire to maintain Scotland’s traditional alliance with France by marrying, in Paris, Madeleine, the daughter of the French king Francis I. Madeleine died of consumption in July of that same year. In 1538, James married Mary of Guise , daughter of the duke of Guise, at St. Andrews, again using marriage to cement his realm’s ties to France. James and Mary would have three children: two sons, James and Arthur, died in 1541, while James’s sole surviving heir, Mary (the future Queen of Scots), was born on December 8, 1542.

James was successful in generating revenue from his subjects through taxation and fees, using the resources to fund numerous projects. Although James was not overly generous in distributing royal patronage, he succeeded in encouraging the cultivation of Renaissance pursuits, ensuring that his court was adorned by artistic and literary pursuits. James dedicated time and money to building projects at Falkland and Stirling, and he also devoted much of his realm’s wealth to the stockpiling of artillery and to the strengthening of the Scottish navy.

In 1540, James led a naval expedition to Orkney and to the Hebrides, as part of a policy designed to extend royal presence and power even into the most peripheral parts of his realm. James also chose to take decisive action against the violent border reivers (raiders) such as the infamous Armstrongs, leading to the execution or imprisonment of many malefactors in the often lawless region. James’s effective campaign against these border bandits led to his later vilification as a tyrant, in many popular ballads.

In 1542, James’s realm was beset by belligerent moves made by the English king, Henry VIII , who feared James’s support of the French military. In October, 1542, after an invasion by the English duke of Norfolk, James gathered an army at Lauder; the army, bent on chasing Norfolk into Northumberland, soon disbanded, however. Another army was mustered, in order to invade the western border with England. The Scottish army was soundly defeated at Solway Moss on November 24, 1542. James V, dejected by the humiliating loss, died several weeks later, leaving his infant daughter, Mary, as his sole heir. James’s death came at a time when Scotland was unstable politically, with James Hamilton, the earl of Arran, and Mary of Guise, competing for control of the government during the period of the infant Mary’s minority.

Significance

James V was successful in keeping the often fractious Scottish nobility relatively tranquil, despite his frequent taxation of his greater subjects. Though James was not overly generous in distributing the fruits of his financial success among his supporters, he did succeed in creating a court in which the culture of the Renaissance could continue to develop.

Through his effective fiscal policies and his cultivation of his realm’s alliance with France, James managed to continue his father’s policy of giving Scotland the prestige requisite for playing a key role in international affairs.

James also succeeded in resisting the pressures of the Reformation, keeping Scotland loyal predominantly to Catholicism, a policy that his wife, Mary of Guise, would pursue as regent, though his widow ultimately failed to stop the Reformation from gaining ascendancy in Scotland.

James’s numerous illegitimate children the fruits of at least six mistresses would go on to contribute to the turbulent atmosphere of the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots, ensuring that his daughter, too, would face a political landscape peopled with competing claimants.

Bibliography

Barrell, A. D. M. Medieval Scotland. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Broad survey of the history of medieval Scotland, covering events from the earliest recorded history to the Reformation. Includes detailed discussion of the entirety of James V’s reign. Challenges the conventional view of James as vindictive and arbitrary, details James’s domestic programs, and details the background for his disastrous struggle with Henry VIII. Maps, genealogical tables.

Bingham, Caroline. James V: King of Scots, 1512-1542. London: Collins, 1971. A full biographical treatment of James V, featuring plates and genealogical tables.

Fradenburg, Louise Olga. City, Marriage, Tournament: Arts of Rule in Late Medieval Scotland. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1991. Discusses the performative nature of political power in late medieval Scotland, analyzing the context in which James V and earlier kings exercised power. Includes plates.

Schama, Simon. A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World? 3000 BC-AD 1603. New York: Hyperion, 2000. A broad survey of British history through the sixteenth century, featuring numerous color plates, maps, and genealogical tables. Offers in-depth discussion of the background of James’s conflict with England, pursuing James’s resistance of the Reformation into the regency of Mary of Guise. Color maps, bibliography, index.

Thomas, Andrea. Princelie Majestie: The Court of James V of Scotland, 1528-1542. East Linton, Scotland: Tuckwell Press, 2004. Revises scholarly neglect of James V’s patronage of the arts, focusing on the cultivation of various art forms in James’s Scotland. Color plates.

Williams, Janet Hadley, ed. Stewart Style, 1513-1542: Essays on the Court of James V. East Linton, Scotland: Tuckwell Press, 1996. A collection of essays focusing on various aspects of cultural and political life in James’s Scotland, surveying the entirety of his reign. Illustrations, bibliography, index.