Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/582

 556 JAMES With the reign of James L, whose coronation took place ! at Scone on the 21st May, may almost be said to begin the substitution in Scotland of constitutional sovereignty, regulated by definite principles and laws and modified by ; a regard to the opinions and interests of the subjects, for | the indefinite authority of the king and the arbitrary rule of the nobles. It is true that after his death the lawless contests of the nobles broke out as fiercely as ever, but by his energetic repression of their violence during his lifetime, and more especially by the virtual creation of statute law modelled on that of England, and the additional importance assigned to parliament, the leaven was partly prepared which was to work towards the destruction of their unlicensed influence. During a session of the parliament held at Perth on the 12th March 1425, James suddenly arrested a large number of the nobles, including the duke of Albany and his two sons, whom along with the earl of Lennox he caused to be executed. With similar strategy he at a parliament held at Inverness in 1427 arrested Donald i of the Isles and fifty of his chiefs. Donald, however, on j making all due submission, received his liberty ; but when, in violation of his oath he made an abortive attempt to assert his independence, the king, on his making uncondi tional surrender, confined him to Tantallon castle. As was natural, the energetic rule of the king, and especially his stringent coercion of the nobles, aroused a secret purpose of revenge ; and, acting on the inspiration of the earl of Athole, uncle of the king, Sir Robert Graham and other accomplices, with a band of three hundred Highlanders, suddenly, on the evening of the 20th or morning of the 21st February 1437, entered the apartment of the king in the priory of the Dominicans at Perth, and stabbed him to death with their daggers. Although the constitutional reforms introduced by James L, and the general tenor of his reign, showed that in him were united in a rare degree decision in action with far-sighted sagacity, his merits as a statesman have bsen cast in the shade by his achievements in literature. It is also worthy of mention that it was owing chiefly to his representations when in captivity that the pope was induced to grant a bull for the erection of a university at St Andrews. The Poetical Remains of James I. were first published in 1783, edited by William Tytler. The principal poems of which he is the reputed author are The Kings Quair, Christis Kirk on the Grene, and Peblis to the Play, and he also wrote several minor pieces. A manuscript of the King s Quair formerly belonging to Selden is preserved in the Bodleian library at Oxford. The poem, which *is divided into seven cantos, and is written in the seven-lined stanzas of Chaucer, was composed during his captivity in England, to celebrate his love for the lady whom he after wards married. It is allegorical in form and somewhat tedious in its minute description of details, but always preserves a smooth and harmonious versification, while it contains many finely imaginative passages inspired by true and tender feeling, and characterized by a charming simplicity and grace akin to those of his master Chaucer. One reason why many have doubted that James could be the author of Christis Kirk on the Grene is its entire dis similarity in manner and style to the King s Quair. Pope s line, &quot; A Scot will fight for Christ s Kirk o the Green &quot; is sarcastic, but undoubtedly chronicles a fact. The poem is a humorous delineation of a phase of Scotch rustic life, and its spirit and graphic vigour are not unworthy of Burns, who indeed has received from it more than one suggestive hint, and in The lldy Fair and The Ordination has imitated its refrain. The oldest evidence for assigning it to James I. is that of the Bannatyne MS. collection made by George Ban- natyne in 1568 ; and, if this evidence is not conclusive for James I., it is so against James V., the only other probable author. There is no printed edition earlier than 1663. Since then several separate editions have appeared, and it has also been printed along with The. Gaberlunzie Man as the work of James V. That James I. was the author of the poem receives a certain amount of corroboration from its resemblance in subject and style to Peblis to the Play, the first words of which are quoted by John Major in describ ing a ballad which he attributes to James. The contemporary authorities on the reign of James I. are princi pally &quot;Wyntoun s Cronykil, and Bower s continuation of Forduu s Scotochronicon. To the succeeding century lielong the histories of John Major, Hector Boece,. and Bishop Lesley. The modern histories of Pinkerton, Tytler, and Burton are of course well known. In regard to questions connected with his character as an author, see Sibbald s Chronicles of Scottish Poetry; Walpole s lloyal cmd Noble Authors; Chalmers s Historic Remains of Scottish Kings; Ty tier s Scottish Worthies; Pinkerton s Ancient Scottish Po&amp;lt;:&amp;gt;ns; Ritson s Historical Essay on Scottish Sony; &quot;Washington Irving s Sketch 2&amp;gt;ook; Prescott s Miscellanies ; and David Irving s History oj Scottish Poetry. An account of the murder of James L, professedly translated from the Latin of John Shirley in 1440, has been pub lished in an Appendix to Pinkerton s History ; in vol. ii. of Miscel lanea Scotica, Glasgow, 1818; and in Gait s novel, The Kpacwife. JAMES II. (1430-1460), twin son of James L, was born in 1 430, and, Alexander his elder brother having died in infancy, was shortly after the assassination of his father crowned king at Holyrood. During his minority the house of Douglas used every endeavour to extend their influence, William, who succeeded to the earldom in 1443, ultimately making no pretension to conceal his claims to independent sovereignty, and at the festivities in 1449, in honour of the king s marriage to Mary of Gueldres, with ostentatious bravado bringing in his train as many as 5000 followers. Shortly after the king attained his majority he in 1452 invited Douglas to become his guest in Stirling castle, and, on his refusing to break the &quot;bands &quot;he had made with the other nobles, in sudden passion stabbed him with a dagger, after which Sir Patrick Grey completed the assassination with a poleaxe. It was not till 1454 that the struggle following this act of violence, which involved all Scotland in a series of intermittent contests, was brought to a close by the flight of the Douglas and the forfeiture of his estates to the crown. His own kingdom being freed from distraction, James resolved to take advantage of the protracted intestine conflict in England, known as the Wars of the Ptoses, to wrest from the English the posses sions they held in the south of Scotland ; but while con ducting the siege of Roxburgh castle he was killed by the bursting of a cannon, 3d August 1460. JAMES III. (1452-1488), king of Scotland, son of James II., was born 1st June 1452, and shortly after the death of his father was crowned king at Kelso. The custody of the young prince was entrusted to Bishop Kennedy of St Andrews, but in 1466 he was seized at Linlithgow by Lord Boyd, who in this way succeeded in obtaining the governorship of the royal fortresses, and also won the apparent friendship of the king. James was, however, as fickle and faithless as he was weak and pliant, and while Lord Boyd s eldest son, who had been created earl of Arran, and had married the king s sister, was absent in the summer of 1469 on an embassy to bring home the king s bride, Margaret of Denmark, the enemies of the Boyds set agencies in motion for having them tried for their seizure of the king. The earl of Arran, obtaining news of their machinations before landing, returned to Denmark; Lord Boyd fled to England; but Sir Alexander, brotner of Lord Boyd, suffered execution, and the estates of the family were forfeited. James, whether the fault was his own or not, was sadly unfortunate in his connexion with his near relations. While his brother-in-law was a fugitive from his vengeance, his two brothers were also, whether justly or not, the objects of his animosity and dread. The earl of Mar, the younger brother, died at