No wonder the Scots love the name James. It was borne by several Scottish kings, covering over two centuries. Here’s a brief history of the Scottish kings named James. When the great Robert the Bruce failed to produce a male heir, the throne was passed to his grandson in the female line (Robert Stuart, son of his daughter, Marjorie), and thus began the House of Stuart in the illustrious history of the Scottish and British monarchy. Robert II’s grandson, James I (1406-1437), was to prove one of Scotland’s ablest kings. He was Robert III’s younger son (his older son David died suspiciously), so the younger son James was sent to France for his safety. Upon his return to take the throne, he was captured, imprisoned and held for ransom for 18 years. The ransom was eventually paid by Scotland, so James I came back to asset his authority (along with his new English bride). He centralized control of the Scottish crown, but was ultimately assassinated for the bad publicity that came along with that accomplishment. His son James II continued his father’s policy of weakening the great noble families to bring more power to the House of Stuart. His son, James III, was responsible for the last great acquisition of Scottish territory through his marriage to a Dane (her dowry included the Orkney Islands and the Shetland Islands). With his death came his son and successor, James IV, who is notable for ending the quasi-independent rule of the Lord of the Isles, bringing the Western Isles under effective Royal control for the first time. He is also remembered for marrying King Henry VII’s daughter, Margaret Tudor, thus laying the foundation for the 17th century Union of the Crowns. James IV’s reign was during the European Renaissance, a time when Scottish culture blossomed along with the spread of education and the founding of St. Andrews University. James IV died in battle when they invaded England in support of the French in 1512. Regents once again controlled the Scottish government in the name of his son; the infant James V. James V would eventually escape the custody of the regents and go about his father’s work of subduing the rebellious Highlands, Western and Northern Isles. James V had a fairly successful reign but died shortly after another devastating campaign against England. Just before his death, the Scottish king learned of the birth of his only heir by his French noblewoman wife, a daughter: Mary, Queen of Scots. He apparently remarked: “it cam wi a lass, it will gang wi a lass” – referring to the House of Stuart which began with Walter Stuart’s marriage to the daughter of Robert the Bruce. Since Mary is a baby, the rule goes back to the regents. While Mary is still a toddler, King Henry VIII attempts to use military force to ensure Mary marries his son, Edward. So Mary is sent to France by her French mother in the hopes that she’ll marry the heir to the French throne. Her mother, Marie de Guise, stays behind in Scotland to look after her daughter’s interests. Finally, in 1550, England withdrew from Scotland completely and Marie assumes the regency, continuing to advance French interests in Scotland and keep Mary’s interests in-tact. In 1560 Marie died, but the Treaty of Edinburgh was signed, providing for the removal of French and English troops from Scotland. The Scottish Reformation took place only days later when the Scottish Parliament abolished the Roman Catholic religion and outlawed the Mass. Meanwhile, Queen Mary had been raised a Catholic in France. As planned, she married the Dauphin Francis in 1558, and become Queen of France on the death of his father the following year. When her husband died, Mary, now at the ripe old age of nineteen, decided to return to Scotland to assume her authority in a hostile atmosphere. Despite being Catholic herself, she refrained from imposing Catholicism on her largely Protestant subjects, thus straining relations with the chief Catholic nobles. Her reign was riddled with crisis: rivalries, the murder of her secretary, the murder of her second husband, and her abdication. She was eventually imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle during which time her infant son James VI would ascend to the throne. Mary eventually escaped from Loch Leven, and brashly attempted to regain the throne by force (don’t you just love Sagittarian women?). In Scotland, the Regents fought a civil war on behalf of James VI against his mother’s supporters (talk about dysfunctional families!). Meanwhile, back in England Mary became a symbol of Catholic dissention and was eventually tried for treason and beheaded on the orders of her cousin Elizabeth I. So that’s how James VI became King of Scotland (eventually James I of England, more on that above). After that, Elizabeth I essentially hands him all of England, and the monarchy is unified.
