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Real difficulties in maintaining royal rule in these remote areas remained, mainly because the Isles men would not accept it. When Torquil Macleod of Lewis refused a royal command in 1501 to hand over the heir to the lordship of the Isles, Donald Dubh, who had escaped from custody, the king was obliged to use massive military force to punish his insubordination. This sparked a rebellion by the Isles men, and they attacked Badenoch, territory held by the king’s lieutenant, Alexander Gordon, Earl of Huntly, and then went on to burn Inverness.
The entire military force of the kingdom was called out to deal with the rising, including a naval squadron under Sir Andrew Wood and Robert Barton, which was sent to reduce the castles of the Island chiefs. Dubh and Macleod continued to play cat-and-mouse with James until they were captured after the siege of Stornoway Castle, Lewis, in September 1507. The rebel Dubh was left to rot in prison for 38 years; he was released in 1545, while Macleod died in exile in 1511.
This was not the end of northern insubordination. A much bigger (but unsuccessful) rising took place in 1545, the year of Dubh’s death. The policy of pacification might not have always been successful, but it shows the determination of the monarch to ensure that his rule was supreme.
The Renaissance prince
James IV was a much more hands-on monarch than his father had been. He was especially interested in looking after the money side of things and created a more efficient system for collecting taxes. He used his wealth to build one of the finest Renaissance courts in Europe filled with
makar
(makers or creators), poets and musicians.
But in true Renaissance fashion, he also saw himself as a warrior king – a man of the sword. As part of the cult of honour, James frequently held jousts or tournaments. At one such joust in Edinburgh, lasting three days in 1508, he overcame opponents from Denmark, England and France. He could leap on a horse without the aid of stirrups and ride, it was claimed, for 160.9 kilometres (100 miles) in a day.
James’s macho image was also strengthened by the building of an impressive fleet of 38 royal Scottish navy ships. Two dockyards were constructed for the purpose. One of the ships,
The Michael,
was the largest in Europe and cost £100,000 to build. It was equipped with 27 ca
Our friends in the south
Plans to marry off James to Princess Cecily (see ‘A little family bother’, earlier in this chapter) didn’t quite work out, but there was still interest in strengthening the ties between Scotland and England through marriage. After signing the Treaty of Perpetual Peace in 1502 with Henry VII, James further cemented ties between the two nations by marrying the English king’s daughter, Margaret Tudor, in Holyrood Abbey in August 1503. He went on to sire four sons, only one of whom – his heir and successor, James V – reached adulthood. But he had plenty of heirs in reserve, with eight illegitimate children by four different mistresses!
The peace didn’t last very long – James became embroiled in European power politics. The Italian Wars, as they were known, comprised a complicated series of affairs in which allies became enemies and enemies became allies. Basically, a league of European powers – the League of Cambrai – was initially set up at the behest of the pope in 1508 to curb the ambitions of the Venetians. But during the campaign, the pope became more afraid of France and left the League to join with Venice. An anti-French alliance – the Holy League – was established that included England, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the papacy. When Henry VIII attacked France in 1513, James sided with the French, proving that the ‘Auld Alliance’ was still able to inspire Scottish loyalties. He agreed to a loan of his fleet, which was fine, but he also agreed to send an army south to distract the English from France. Not so fine.
The Battle of Flodden Field
While Henry was absent from England at the siege of Théroua
The massacre was due to superior English tactics. The terrain seemed to favour the Scots – they commanded the top of the hill above Flodden Field, and the English had the bottom. But when James ordered the main charge, the Scots got bogged down in marshy ground at the bottom of the hill. In the hand-to-hand fighting that took place, the English billhook proved more effective than the 6.1-metre (20-foot) Swiss pike used by the Scots.
Outmanoeuvred and outfought, the cream of the Scottish nobility lay dead on the field of Flodden. Included in that number was the king, the last monarch from Britain to be killed in battle. Also among the dead were 9 earls, 2 archbishops, 2 abbots and 14 greater lords.
Some mystery surrounds the whereabouts of James’s body. Hacked to pieces, it was supposed to be taken to London for burial in St Paul’s Cathedral, but it lay unburied at Sheen Priory in Surrey, from where it disappeared after the Reformation. So, his final resting place remains unknown.
Flodden had shown that Scotland was part of an international system of politics and a sought-after ally by major powers, especially France. James had wanted to be seen as a European prince, and in this he had succeeded, but at what a cost! For centuries, Flodden remained a deep and hurtful memory to the Scots. Even today, some Scots make the pilgrimage and lay wreaths at the Flodden memorial at the foot of Branxton Hill. In the Border town of Selkirk each year, 80 horsemen take part in the Common Riding, the same number from the town who fought at Flodden. Only one returned carrying a captured English ba
The Reign of James V
The reign of James V was notable in a number of ways. It saw the further extension of the power of the monarchy, as well as the continued commitment of the Stewarts to the principles of the Renaissance and the positioning of Scotland within Europe’s elite nations through marriage. But these developments pale into insignificance with the emergence of radical – or, if you like, ‘heretical’– religious challenges to the Catholic Church and the authority of the papacy: the Reformation. The conflicts created by religious dissent would last for more than a hundred years.
The politics of regency
Another Stewart king bites the dust, and another minor takes his place. James V was only 17 months old when his father was killed in battle. So, a regent had to be appointed to rule until James reached his majority. Cue backstabbing and treachery!
James IV’s widow, Margaret Tudor, was appointed regent, but that came to an end with her marriage to Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, ten months after her husband’s death. Douglas, like his new bride, was an Anglophile, hardly a popular position with the Scottish nobility, given that they had suffered such catastrophic losses at Flodden. Disgruntled nobles wrote to the cousin of James IV, John, Duke of Albany, to invite him to assume the regency. This was the man whose father, Alexander, Duke of Albany, had plotted with the duke of Gloucester to overthrow James III, so perhaps he was not the wisest choice!
The toing and froing only highlighted the fact that there were two factions within the nobility: the pro-English minority and the pro-French majority.
Albany was really a Frenchman – state papers had to be translated into French for him, and he was committed body and soul to Francis I of France. In 1521, Albany returned to France to renegotiate the Auld Alliance as the Treaty of Rouen; as a result, there was talk of a joint Franco–Scottish invasion of England in 1523, but it was all hot air. French troops did arrive in Scotland, but they left within six weeks, waved a hearty
au revoir
by their Scottish hosts who had had to feed them. The Scottish nobility had no stomach for another war with England so soon after Flodden. By 1524, Albany had departed the scene and retired to France, which opened up a power vacuum.
The Red Douglas
Douglas was determined to fill the void. He had got on the wrong side of the queen mother by fathering an illegitimate child, and ever since she had been secretly trying for a divorce. In alliance with Albany, Margaret managed to have Douglas charged with treason. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!
Douglas was exiled as a prisoner to France in 1522, but he managed to escape to London two years later. In November 1524, he returned to Scotland with the support of the English king and tried to force his way into Edinburgh, but he was repelled by Margaret and her supporters. Repulsed, he retired to his ancestral pile, Tantallon Castle, to lick his wounds.
Douglas also took the time to plot, and he returned to Edinburgh three months later with a larger force. This time, he successfully entered the city and called a parliament. Douglas immediately secured a power base for himself by appointing his family and allies to key positions in the Church and government; he became chancellor.
In July 1525, the ruling estates in Scotland decided that the young king, for his own safety and education, should be placed in what they called ‘company’. The company was made up of his stepfather, Douglas, and Gavin Dunbar, Archbishop of Glasgow. It was to be on a rotational basis – Douglas was to have the guardianship of the young king for a fixed period of four months, from July to November 1526. But at the end of the term, he refused to hand over the king, who was held prisoner in Edinburgh Castle for almost three years. When his mother, Margaret, objected, Douglas put her and her supporters to flight.
Douglas was now in charge, and it wasn’t all bad. As lord warden of the marches, he sorted out the anarchy and disorder in the Scottish Borders. He also concluded a peace treaty with England in August 1526. Attempts to free the king from his clutches were also repelled. With a much smaller force, Douglas defeated John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Le
However, in 1528, James escaped the clutches of Douglas and fled Edinburgh for Stirling. A small army of loyal supporters and enemies of Douglas gathered around the king. Fearing the worst, Douglas bolted for England in May 1529, where he took an oath of allegiance to Henry VII and was given a pension by the English for his troubles.