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JAMES V

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 141 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JAMES V . (1512-1542), See also:king of See also:Scotland, son of James IV., was See also:born at See also:Linlithgow on the loth of See also:April 1512, and became king when his See also:father was killed at See also:Flodden in 1513. The regency was at first vested in his See also:mother, but after See also:Queen See also:Margaret's second See also:marriage, with See also:Archibald See also:Douglas, 6th See also:earl of See also:Angus, in See also:August 1514, it was transferred by the estates to See also:John See also:Stewart, See also:duke of See also:Albany. Henceforward the minority of James was disturbed by See also:constant quarrels between a See also:faction, generally favour-able to See also:England, under Angus, and the partisans of See also:France under Albany; while the queen-mother and the nobles struggled to gain and to regain See also:possession of the king's See also:person. The See also:English had not followed up their victory at Flodden, although there were as usual forays on the See also:borders, but See also:Henry VIII. was watching affairs in Scotland with an observant See also:eye, and other See also:European sovereigns were not indifferent to the possibility of a Scotch See also:alliance. In 1524, when Albany had retired to France, the See also:parliament declared that James was See also:fit to govern, but that he must be advised by his mother and a See also:council. This " erection " of James as king was mainly due to the efforts of Henry VIII. In 1526 Angus obtained See also:control of the king, and kept him in See also:close confinement until 1528, when James, escaping from See also:Edinburgh to See also:Stirling, put vigorous See also:measures in See also:execution against the earl, and compelled him to flee to England. In 1529 and 1530 the king made a strong effort to suppress his turbulent vassals in the See also:south of Scotland; and after several raids and See also:counter-raids negotiations for See also:peace with England were begun, and in May 1534 a treaty was signed. At this See also:time, as on previous occasions, Henry VIII. wished James to marry his daughter See also:Mary, while other ladies had been suggested by the See also:emperor See also:Charles V.; but the Scottish king, preferring a See also:French See also:bride, visited France, and in See also:January 1537 was married at See also:Paris to Madeleine, daughter of King See also:Francis I. Madeleine died soon after her arrival in Scotland, and in 1538 James made a much more important marriage, being See also:united to Mary (1515-1560), daughter of See also:Claude, duke of See also:Guise, and widow of See also:Louis of See also:Orleans, duke of See also:Longueville. It was this connexion, probably, which finally induced James to forsake his vacillating See also:foreign policy, and to range himself definitely among the enemies of England.

In1536 he had refused to meet Henry VIII. at See also:

York, and in the following See also:year had received the See also:gift of a cap and See also:sword from See also:Pope See also:Paul III., thus renouncing the friendship of his See also:uncle. Two plots to See also:murder the king were now discovered, and James also foiled the attempts of Henry VIII. to kidnap him. Although in 1540 the English king made another See also:attempt to win the sup-See also:port, or at least the See also:neutrality, of James for his religious policy, the relations between the two countries became very unfriendly, and in 1542 Henry sent an See also:army to invade Scotland. James was not slow to make See also:reprisals, but his nobles were angry or indifferent, and on the 25th of See also:November 1542 his forces were easily scattered at the rout of Solway See also:Moss. This See also:blow preyed upon the king's mind, and on the 14th of See also:December he died at See also:Falkland, having just heard of the See also:birth of his daughter. His two sons had died in See also:infancy, and his successor was his only legitimate See also:child, Mary. He See also:left several bastards, among them James Stewart, earl of See also:Murray (the See also:regent Murray), See also:Lord John Stewart (1531–1563) See also:prior of Coldingham, and Lord See also:Robert Stewart, earl of See also:Orkney (d. 1592). Although possessing a weak constitution, which was further impaired by his irregular manner of See also:life, James showed See also:great vigour and See also:independence as a See also:sovereign, both in withstanding the machinations of his uncle, Henry VIII., and in opposing the See also:influence of the nobles. The persecutions to which heretics were exposed during this reign were due mainly to the excessive influence exercised by the ecclesiastics, especially by See also:David See also:Beaton, See also:archbishop of St See also:Andrews. The king's See also:habit of mingling with the peasantry secured for him a large amount of popularity, and probably led many to ascribe to him the authorship of poems describing scenes in See also:peasant life, Christis See also:Kirk on the Grene, The Gaberlunzie See also:Man and The See also:Jolly See also:Beggar. There is no See also:proof that he was the author of any of these poems, but from expressions in the poems of See also:Sir David See also:Lindsay, who was on terms of intimacy with him, it appears that occasionally he wrote verses.

End of Article: JAMES V

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