Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 29.djvu/160

James V been attached to the person of Prince Arthur, was appointed to discharge similar duties for James, and he has described in attractive verse the prince's playfulness in infancy (Complaynt to the King, ll. 87–98).

Leslie dates the coronation of James at Stirling on 21 Sept. 1513, and Buchanan at the same place on 22 Feb. 1514, but it probably took place at Scone in presence of the general council which met at Perth before 19 Oct. and sat till at least 26 Nov. 1513, when the French ambassadors, De la Bastie, and James Ogilvy presented letters from Louis XII. The alliance with France was renewed, and John Stewart, duke of Albany (d. 1536) [q. v.], requested to return to Scotland ‘to serve the king, the queen, and the realm’ against England. The queen-mother had been appointed regent under the will of James IV while she remained a widow, but a council, consisting of James Beaton [q. v.], archbishop of Glasgow and chancellor, Alexander Gordon, third earl of Huntly [q. v.], Archibald Douglas, sixth earl of Angus [q. v.], and James Hamilton, first earl of Arran [q. v.], was appointed, without whose consent she was not to act. After the council she removed to Stirling, taking with her the young king, and there, in April 1514, she gave birth to a posthumous son by James IV, Alexander, duke of Ross. Her rash marriage in August to Archibald Douglas, sixth earl of Angus, lost her the regency. Albany landed in Scotland on 18 May 1515, and at a parliament in Edinburgh on 12 July was proclaimed protector and governor of Scotland till James attained his eighteenth year. Eight lords were chosen, from whom Albany selected four, who went to Edinburgh, or more probably Stirling, with an offer that the queen might reject one. The remaining three were to be the guardians of James and his brother. Margaret declined the offer, and, still keeping James with her, was besieged in Stirling Castle. On 4 Aug. Albany himself appeared with seven thousand men and artillery. After trying a theatrical coup, by placing James on the ramparts with crown and sceptre, she surrendered, and was confined in Edinburgh. James and his brother were detained in Stirling under the guardianship of Borthwick, Fleming, and Erroll, and the young king was soon brought to Edinburgh. His education, though often interrupted, was fairly good. His tutors were Gavin Dunbar [q. v.], John Bellenden [q. v.], David Lindsay [q. v.], and James Inglis [q. v.], also a poet.

When Albany returned to France, Scotland was distracted by the contest between two of the council of regency, Angus, head of the Douglases, and Arran, head of the Hamiltons, for possession of the young king's person. His guardians deemed the castle of Edinburgh the best place for his safe keeping, but in the summer or autumn of 1517 he was sent to Craigmillar on the suspicion of a plot, and his mother, who had quarrelled with Angus and her brother Henry VIII, was allowed to visit him, until a rumour that she intended to convey him away to England led to his being brought back to Edinburgh. In September 1519 he was for a similar reason taken to Dalkeith. Meanwhile the rival parties of Arran and Angus struggled for the possession of Edinburgh [see under, (1489?–1557)], and on 30 April 1520 Angus gained the town. Next year Albany returned to Scotland. The queen joined him, and on 4 Dec. they visited the young king in Edinburgh Castle. The parliament which met in Edinburgh on 18 July 1522 agreed, by the desire of the regent and the queen, that the king should be removed to Stirling and Lord Erskine made his sole guardian. In September Albany again went to France. Thereupon the queen wrote to Surrey, the English lieutenant in the north, suggesting that he might aid her in obtaining James's emancipation from his guardians and his establishment as king with a council in which she herself would be paramount. She assured Surrey of James's competence. Albany on his return in September 1523 resumed the personal rule. To protect the young king from the nobles, Scottish archers of the French king's bodyguard were sent to attend on James, and he is the first Scottish king who had such a guard. Albany held at Edinburgh, on 17 Nov., a parliament which entrusted the guardianship of James to Lords Borthwick, Cassilis, and Fleming, in turns of three months, with the Earl of Moray, a bastard of his father, as his constant companion. At the request of the queen Lord Erskine was added, and she herself was allowed to visit her son with her ladies but without troops. On 20 May 1524 Albany once more returned to France, under the condition that if he did not come back before 1 Sept. his office should terminate and the young king receive the sceptre of his kingdom. But the queen-mother and the nobles in the English interest, on 26 July 1524, carried off James from Stirling to Edinburgh, where he was received with acclamations by the people as well as the nobles. A bond, still extant, was signed by the Bishops of Galloway and Ross, the Earl of Arran, and others, who undertook to be loyal subjects of the king, and annulled their engagements to Albany. On 22 Aug. the queen proposed at a meeting in the Tolbooth to abrogate