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James V, King of Scots 1513-1542
Born 10 April 1512 Linlithgow Palace
Died 14 December 1542 Falkland Castle
Buried Holyroodhouse Abbey
Married (1) 1 January 1537 Notre Dame, Paris
Madeleine de Valois, Princess of France,
daughter of Francois I, King of France 1515-1547 and Claude de France
Born 10 August 1520 St.Germain-en-Laye
Died 7 July 1537 Holyrood
Married (2) 9 May 1538 St.Andrews
Marie de Lorraine,
daughter of Claude de Lorraine, Duc de Guise and Antoinette de Bourbon
Born 22 November 1515 Bar-le-Duc
Died 10 June 1560 Edinburgh Castle
Child by (a) Elizabeth Shaw
Child by (b) Margaret Erskine,
daughter of James Erskine, 5th Lord Erskine and Lady Margaret/Elizabeth
Campbell
Died 5 May 1572
Child by (c) Christina Barclay
Child by (d) Euphemia Elphinstone,
daughter of Alexander Elphinstone, 1st Baron Elphinstone and Elizabeth
Barlow
Child by (e) Elizabeth Carmichael,
daughter of Sir John Carmichael
Child by (f) Lady Helen Stewart,
daughter of John Stewart, 12th Earl of Lennox and Lady Elizabeth Stewart
Died before 25 November 1564 in Flanders
Child by (g) Elizabeth Beatoun,
daughter of Sir John Beatoun, of Creich, Hereditary Keeper of Falkland
Child by (h) NN
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The battle of Flodden, which decimated Scotland's nobility, left a
17-month-old boy, James V, to succeed his father on the throne. His mother,
Margaret Tudor, a domineering woman, was his guardian until she remarried
Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, with whom she went to England. His
next guardian was the new regent of Scotland, John Stewart, Duke of Albany,
an able and conscientious governor. In May 1524 Albany returned to France
never to return; this allowed Margaret Tudor to return from England, and
supported by James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran, regain her guardianship.
Estranged from Angus, Margaret
obtained a divorce which incurred the disapproval of her brother Henry
VIII.
In 1525 Angus gained control in Scotland as well as control over James
V, keeping him virtually a prisoner until 1528. Having become Regent, Angus
appointed his relatives in offices of state.
James V suffered from emotional neglect; he saw his mother rarely and
came to hate the Douglas family with an obsession. James V's minority officially
ended in 1526, when he was 14, but an empty ceremony at which he was declared
of age left him with no greater
freedom than before; Angus kept firm control over the reigns of power.
James V remained in Angus's custody until the spring of 1528 and, during
this time, it was rumoured that Angus had encouraged the king in some early
sexual adventures in the hope to distract him from the affairs of his realm.
James V, however, managed to indulge the one
pleasure without forgetting the other.
In May 1528, the king contrived to slip away from his step-father and
made himself secure in the stronghold of Stirling Castle. A group of noblemen
(including the Earls of Moray, Argyll, Arran, Eglinton, Bothwell, Montrose
and the Earl Marischal) joined James V,
demonstrating their support and the opposition to Angus. In November
1528, Angus left for England, his estates forfeited and his kinsmen sharing
in his disgrace. At 16, James V was prepared to assert his authority. James
V's revenge on the Douglas clan extended to Janet
Douglas, Lady Glamis, nearly blind from long imprisonment in a dark
dungeon, then burnt to death on a trumped-up charge of witchcraft.
His determination to enforce strict justice enhanced his reputation
in an age which firmly believed in the death penalty and corporal punishment.
James V would sit on horseback, night and day, in the coldest winter, so
that he might catch thieves; and his activity struck such terror into them,
that they abstained from their evil purposes. James V's foreign policies
were influenced by two preoccupations: enhancing the prestige of his kingdom
and dynasty, and improving his finances. The French king, Francois I, parted
with his daughter, Madeleine, and a dowry of 100,000 livres plus the annual
rents on another 125,000. The marriage, celebrated with great splendour,
took place in Paris on 1 January 1537. Unfortunately, poor Madeleine died
within the year; but James V confirmed his alliance
with France by marrying a second French bride, the young widow Marie
de Guise, in 1538. With her he gained a second dowry of 150,000 livres
and the added satisfaction of being preferred to his uncle, Henry VIII,
who had also been a suitor for her.
In 1529 he had explained to the Duke of Albany that it was expedient
to marry "to avoid the begetting of bastards"; but in fact this problem
had not been avoided as he was the father of several illegitimate children.
He taxed the Roman Catholic Church heavily. However, the pope sanctioned
this and the Church endured as the price was James V's refusal to imitate
his Uncle Henry's repudiation of papal supremacy and adoption of Protestant
beliefs. James's dealings with the Church may have seemed both corrupt
and cynical, yet he was deeply outraged
by revelations of clerical immorality.
The king's extreme acquisitiveness had lost him the confidence of some
of his subjects. He had already ruined a number of individuals whose wealth
tempted him, and whose conduct gave him the legal excuses he needed to
confiscate their fortunes. Also, the Scots had become disillusioned with
the French alliance and were therefor reluctant to
assist the French by invading England in 1542. The battle of Solway
Moss on 25 November 1542 was not a great defeat like Flodden; it was more
a skirmish that was followed by
wholesale surrender.
James V, in bad health for some time, did not live much longer. The
news that his wife had just given birth to a daughter was the worst
possible news the dying king could receive; but his famous last words,
"It cam wi' a lass, it will gang wi' a lass" were wrong, as the second
marriage of his daughter would keep the Stewart/Stuart family on the
throne for several more generations.
Source: Leo van de Pas |
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