Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 29.djvu/156

James IV feudal barons, and a further step towards confirming Edinburgh in the position of capital, which it had begun to assume since the death of James I. Other statutes dealt with the administration of criminal law. The privileges of the burghs were confirmed, and provision made for yearly election of magistrates from those who traded within the burghs. No begging was to be tolerated except by sick or impotent folk. All freeholders with land of one hundred merks value were to appear in parliament personally or by procurators. The most important statutes, all of which show James as a legislator at his best, related to the tenure of feu farm. This tenure, known from early times in reference to church lands, had been regulated by statute in 1457. But it was now expressly provided by one act that the king might let his whole lands annexed or unannexed in feu to any person, and that the feu should ‘stand perpetually to his heirs,’ and by another that every man, both of the spiritual and temporal estate, might do the same. Fixity of tenure was thus secured. The general revocation which closed the acts of this parliament included not only all acts prejudicial to the crown, but also to the catholic church. James was a devoted son of the church, and deserved the hat and sword with gold hilt and scabbard which Julius II sent him as a special mark of favour in 1507.

The peace with England and the suppression of rebellion gave more prominence to James's relations with foreign powers, with all of whom he desired to be on pacific terms. With Denmark his connection, owing to his near kinship, was intimate. Between August 1501 and August 1502 James sent two ships of war to aid his uncle, Hans of Denmark, against Swedish rebels. In 1507 and 1508 James again assisted Hans in his contest with Lübeck and the Hanseatic League, and in April of the latter year, in response to an embassy of Tycho Vincent, dean of Copenhagen, he despatched Andrew Barton [q. v.] with a ship to the Danish king, which, however, Barton appropriated to himself. When James prepared for the English war at the close of his reign he urgently, but in vain, solicited the aid of his uncle of Denmark, but succeeded in making him at least the nominal ally of France. His amicable relations with the Emperor Maximilian, Louis XII of France, and Henry VII enabled him to intercede effectually on behalf of Charles, duke of Gueldres, when threatened by Philip, archduke of Austria, and entitled him to remonstrate warmly with the archduke when he showed signs of being inclined to receive with favour Edmund de la Pole, earl of Suffolk. In 1506 he sent an embassy to Louis XII of France, and from both Dantzic and France he procured supplies of wood when his ship-building had exhausted the Scotch forests. On 21 Dec. an ambassador from James presented a letter of credence to the Venetian signory stating James's intention to visit Jerusalem, and requesting galleys or artificers to build them from the Venetian republic—a request willingly granted. He also asked the pope to excuse him from visiting Rome on his way. But the remonstrances of the king of Denmark and the state of his own kingdom prevented James's project from being realised. Two years later Blacader, archbishop of Glasgow, actually started for the Holy Land, perhaps as the deputy of James, but died on the way. With Spain he continued on good terms, and he remonstrated with King Emmanuel of Portugal against the piracy practised by the Portuguese, though he found the granting of letters of reprisal to the Bartons more effectual.

The year 1507 and the first half of 1508 were the most brilliant period of his reign. He was courted by foreign princes, on friendly terms with his father-in-law, blessed by the pope, and at peace with his own subjects. The last five years are a period of decline, due partly to external causes, but still more to his own defects of character. At the end of 1507 the Earl of Arran and his brother, Sir Patrick Hamilton, passed through England to France without a safe-conduct, and on their return in January 1508 they were detained as prisoners, though treated civilly. In March, Wolsey (as Mr. Gairdner thinks, and not West as Pinkerton and Tytler supposed) was sent to Scotland to receive James's remonstrances against Arran's detention. His letter to Henry VII in April contains his view of the character of James. When the English envoy reached Edinburgh the king was so much occupied in making gunpowder that he could not be received till 2 April, after which he had daily audiences till the 10th; but such was ‘the inconstancy’ of James that the envoy did not know what report to send. His chief object was to prevent the renewal of the old league between Scotland and France, which James promised to suspend so long as Henry continued to be ‘his loving father.’ The whole nation, commons as well as nobles, were in favour of the renewal; the king, the queen, and the Bishop of Moray were the only exceptions. Bernard Stewart, lord d'Aubigny, was on his way from France, and James promised that after he had heard his proposals the Bishop of Moray should be sent to Henry with a secret letter. James was willing to meet Henry on the borders.