3rd August
August 3rd 1460 saw the death of James II King of
the Scots.
James became king in 1437 after the murder of his
father. His minority years saw much bloodshed as rival factions vied to
control Scotland through controlling the young king. His reign would be
characterised by his fiery temperament and his struggle to break the
power of a leading clan and assert his own control over Scotland.
Immediately after the death of his father, James' mother, Queen
Joan, organised the murder of the rival branch of the Stewart clan who
had murdered her husband. The violence that marked the start of his
reign did not stop there, however.
In 1440 the two main factions
fighting for control of the boy king turned to slaughter. William
Crichton and Alexander Livingston arranged a meeting with their rivals,
the powerful Douglases, at Edinburgh Castle. With the young king
present, Crichton and Livingston murdered the 6th Earl of Douglas and
his younger brother in a notorious evening that would become known as
the Black Dinner.
Despite the murders, the Douglases came to
dominate the Scottish court, filling the major offices and posts of
government with their family and supporters. When James finally assumed
the role of governing Scotland by himself in 1449 he found that the
Douglas clan had a stranglehold on power that they would not give up
lightly.
James spent much of his reign attempting to break the
Douglases. Typically for his reign, this involved murder in an evening
that would echo the Black Dinner some nine years earlier.
In 1452
James invited William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas, to dine with him at
Stirling Castle. Hot-headed and suspicious, James accused Douglas of
forming a treacherous bond with John MacDonald, Earl of Ross and Lord of
the Isles, and the Earl of Crawford. A secret pact between the most
powerful clans in the country was a serious threat to James' kingship
and had to be dealt with. A pitched argument with Douglas ensued and in
the anger and emotion of the moment, James stabbed Douglas. The young
Earl was finished off by James' courtiers in savage fashion – one
allegedly dashing the Earl's brains out with an axe.
An intermittent
war broke out between James and the Douglases. Douglas lands were seized
then returned, titles removed then restored. James was in danger of
looking weak. Weakness in the Scottish court often led to assassination.
James needed a decisive victory over the Douglases.
He got that
in 1455. At the Battle of Arkinholm James' forces defeated the Douglas
clan army. The defeated Douglases fled to England and their power and
stranglehold on Scottish political affairs was broken.
James only had
five years to enjoy the liberation that the elimination of Douglases
afforded him. During 1460, James had being laying siege to Roxburgh
Castle which was still in the hands of the English. A passionate
advocate of artillery, James intended to fire a salute in honour of his
queen.
The gun exploded and James was killed. James' son
succeeded to the throne as James III. He was still a child and so the
Stewart monarchy had another minority kingship to survive.
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepted
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