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James I of Scotland
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James I (10 December 1394 – 21 February 1437) was nominal King of Scots from 4 April 1406, and reigning King of Scots from May 1424 until 21 February 1437.
on 10 December 1394, the son of Robert III and Annabella Drummond, he had an eventful childhood. In 1402 his elder brother, David, starved to death in prison at Falkland in Fife.
r the death of James's uncle in 1420, the Scots finally paid the ransom of £40,000, and in 1424 James returned to Scotland to find a country in chaos.
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James I (10 December 1394 – 21 February 1437) was nominal King of Scots from 4 April 1406, and reigning King of Scots from May 1424 until 21 February 1437.
Early life
Born on 10 December 1394, the son of Robert III and Annabella Drummond, he had an eventful childhood. In 1402 his elder brother, David, starved to death in prison at Falkland in Fife.
Return to Scotland
After the death of James's uncle in 1420, the Scots finally paid the ransom of £40,000, and in 1424 James returned to Scotland to find a country in chaos. He took his bride with him – he had met and fallen in love with Joan Beaufort, a cousin of King Henry VI of England, while imprisoned. He married her in London in 2 February 1423. They had eight children.
Children with Joan Beaufort
- Margaret Stewart, Princess of Scotland (1424-1445) married Louis XI of France
- Isabella Stewart, Princess of Scotland (1426-1494) married Francis I, Duke of Brittany
- Eleanor Stewart, Princess of Scotland (1433-1484) married Sigismund, Archduke of Austria
- Mary of Scotland, Countess of Buchan died 1465 married Wolfart VI van Borsselen
- Joan of Scotland, Countess of Morton (c. 1428-1486) married James Douglas, 1st Earl of Morton
- James II of Scotland (1430-1460)
- Alexander Stewart, Duke of Rothesay (born and died 1430); twin of James II
- Annabella Stewart, Princess of Scotland married and divorced 1. Louis of Savoy, and then married and divorced 2. George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly.
Reign as king
James was formally crowned King of Scotland at Scone Abbey, Perthshire, on 2 or 21 May 1424. He immediately took strong actions to regain authority and control. In one such action he had the Albany family, who had opposed his actions, executed. The execution of Murdoch, Duke of Albany, and two of Murdoch's sons took place on 24 May 1425 at Castle Hill, Stirling.
James ruled Scotland with a firm hand, and achieved numerous financial and legal reforms. For the purpose of trading with other nations, he made Scots coinage exchangeable for foreign currency only within Scottish borders. He also tried to remodel the Parliament of Scotland along English lines. In foreign policy he renewed the Auld Alliance, an alliance with the French, in 1428.
His actions throughout his reign, though effective, upset many people. During the later years of his reign, they helped to lead to his claim to the throne coming under question.
James I's grandfather, Robert II, had married twice and the awkward circumstances of the first marriage (the one with James's grandmother Elizabeth Mure) led some to dispute its validity. Conflict broke out between the descendants of the first marriage and the unquestionably legitimate descendants of the second marriage over who had the better right to the Scottish throne. Matters came to a head on 21 February 1437, when a group of Scots led by Sir Robert Graham assassinated James at the Friars Preachers Monastery in Perth. He attempted to escape his assailants through a sewer. However, three days previously, he had had the other end of the drain blocked up because of its connection to the tennis court outside, balls habitually got lost in it. (See also: Catherine Douglas.)
A wave of executions followed, of those who had participated in the plot, in March 1437. The authorities executed (among others) James's uncle, Walter Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl, and Atholl's grandson, Robert Stewart, Master of Atholl — both of them descended from Robert II's second marriage).
Ancestry
See also
External links
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