John Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany
Encyclopedia
John Stewart, Duke of Albany (1481 or 1484 – 2 July 1536 in Mirfleur, France) was Regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...

 of the Kingdom of Scotland
Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...

, Duke of Albany
Duke of Albany
Duke of Albany is a peerage title that has occasionally been bestowed on the younger sons in the Scottish, and later the British, royal family, particularly in the Houses of Stuart and Hanover....

 in peerage of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 and Count of Auvergne
Auvergne (province)
Auvergne was a historic province in south central France. It was originally the feudal domain of the Counts of Auvergne. It is now the geographical and cultural area that corresponds to the former province....

 and Lauraguais in France.

Early life

John was a son of Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, son of King James II of Scotland
James II of Scotland
James II reigned as King of Scots from 1437 to his death.He was the son of James I, King of Scots, and Joan Beaufort...

. He was the only son of his father's second marriage, to Anne de la Tour d'Auvergne, daughter of Bertrand VI of Auvergne. The ambitious though unsuccessful Alexander had fled Scotland to France in 1479, and married Anne. He then returned to Scotland after reconciliation with his brother the king, but in 1483 fled to France a second time, being placed in Scotland under a sentence of death for treason. John was born in France, although it is unclear whether this was during his father's first or second stay there, and grew up there with his French mother.

Alexander was killed in Paris accidentally in a tournament in 1485 when John was still an infant. He had earlier been married with Catherine Sinclair, daughter of the 3rd Earl of Orkney, but that marriage had been dissolved in 1478, however having produced half-brothers to John. Question of their illegitimacy caused uncertainty in succession, but the infant John was eventually recognized as duke after his father's death. He thus inherited Duchy of Albany and Earldom of March.

On 15 February 1487 his mother the Dowager Duchess Anne married, second time, Louis de Seyssel, comte de La Chambre, who became John's stepfather.

Heir Presumptive

Albany was his whole life the next heir of the Kingdom of Scotland
Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...

 after male members of the king's immediate family, due to stipulations of the Semi-Salic succession order enacted by Robert II of Scotland
Robert II of Scotland
Robert II became King of Scots in 1371 as the first monarch of the House of Stewart. He was the son of Walter Stewart, hereditary High Steward of Scotland and of Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert I and of his first wife Isabella of Mar...

 which favored male agnates
Patrilineality
Patrilineality is a system in which one belongs to one's father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritance of property, names or titles through the male line as well....

 over all females of the Royal House of Stewart. The sons of the immediate royal family proved to be short-lived except Albany's first cousins James, Duke of Ross, James IV of Scotland
James IV of Scotland
James IV was King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death. He is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland, but his reign ended with the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Flodden Field, where he became the last monarch from not only Scotland, but also from all...

 and the latter's son the future James V of Scotland
James V of Scotland
James V was King of Scots from 9 September 1513 until his death, which followed the Scottish defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss...

 (who died in 1542, only five years after Albany).

Thus Albany was from 1504 onwards either the heir presumptive
Heir Presumptive
An heir presumptive or heiress presumptive is the person provisionally scheduled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir or heiress apparent or of a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question...

 or the second-in-line to the throne of Kingdom of Scotland
Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...

. After 1504, despite which minor was heir in front of him, Albany was always the closest heir who was not underage. During the minority of King James V of Scotland
James V of Scotland
James V was King of Scots from 9 September 1513 until his death, which followed the Scottish defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss...

, Albany acted as regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...

 intermittently between 1514 and 1524.

On 8 July 1505 the young Albany married his first cousin Anne, Countess of Auvergne
Anne, Countess of Auvergne
Anne de La Tour d'Auvergne was sovereign Countess of Auvergne from 1501 until 1524, and Duchess of Albany by marriage to John Stewart, Duke of Albany. She was called in her marriage contract, 'Anne de Boulogne fille de Jehan Comte de Boulogne et Auvergne.'-Family:She was the eldest of two...

 and Lauraguais (eldest daughter and heiress of Albany's maternal uncle John III, Count of Auvergne
John III, Count of Auvergne
John III of Auvergne , Count of Auvergne, was the son of Bertrand VI of Auvergne and Louise de La Tremoille , Dame de Boussac, the daughter of Georges de la Trémoille...

 who had died in 1501). Thus John started to enjoy the position and rights of Count of Auvergne and Lauraguais in France, until Anne's death in 1524. A manuscript detailing her estate with pictures of her castles still exists (see references).

Albany's mother Anne, Countess of La Chambre, died on 13 October 1512. (The stepfather, Louis de La Chambre, lived until 1517.)

Regency of Scotland

Albany was called to assume the regency (or guardianship) in 1514 when the infant king's mother, Dowager Queen Margaret
Margaret Tudor
Margaret Tudor was the elder of the two surviving daughters of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the elder sister of Henry VIII. In 1503, she married James IV, King of Scots. James died in 1513, and their son became King James V. She married secondly Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of...

 married again to the Scottish noble, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus
Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus
Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus was a Scottish nobleman active during the reigns of James V and Mary, Queen of Scots...

, who led his own faction in Scotland and was opposed by other factions. He arrived at Dumbarton
Dumbarton Castle
Dumbarton Castle has the longest recorded history of any stronghold in Great Britain. It overlooks the Scottish town of Dumbarton, and sits on a plug of volcanic basalt known as Dumbarton Rock which is high.-Iron Age:...

 with a squadron of eight ships, including the James and Margaret, which James IV had lent to Louis XII of France
Louis XII of France
Louis proved to be a popular king. At the end of his reign the crown deficit was no greater than it had been when he succeeded Charles VIII in 1498, despite several expensive military campaigns in Italy. His fiscal reforms of 1504 and 1508 tightened and improved procedures for the collection of taxes...

, on 26 May 1515. Albany utilized the Scottish nobility’s innate distrust of Margaret. After two years' of this uneasy situation, in 1516 Margaret had to flee to England (Albany besieged the queen at Stirling
Stirling
Stirling is a city and former ancient burgh in Scotland, and is at the heart of the wider Stirling council area. The city is clustered around a large fortress and medieval old-town beside the River Forth...

 and got possession of the royal children) and Albany thus succeeded in making himself the sole regent. The fragmentary and quarrelous politics of Scotland overthrew and also restored Albany's powers several times.

The earl of Angus made his peace with Albany later in 1516. Between 1517 to 1520 Albany sojourned in France, and did not exercise the regency on spot, but through his lieutenants. Queen Margaret sought to regain the regency, but in vain. Young king James was kept a virtual prisoner by Albany, and queen Margaret was allowed to see her son only once between 1516 and end of Albany's regency. Margaret started to try get a divorce from Angus, also through Albany secretly. Albany returned to Scotland in 1521 and Margaret now sided with him against her husband. Thus Albany was able to keep upper hand in regard to ambitious Angus. The regent took the government into his own hands. Albany put Angus under charges of high treason in December 1521, and later sent him practically a prisoner to France.

The 12-year-old James V's minority was proclaimed to end in 1524, as Queen Dowager Margaret and her supporters (such as Albany's first cousin, James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran
James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran
James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran and 2nd Lord Hamilton was a Scottish nobleman and first cousin of James IV of Scotland.-Biography:...

) wanted to grab power. Albany was ousted completely by this. In 1524 Angus returned to Scotland, and took Edinburgh in February 1525. The subsequently summoned parliament sealed, in turn also the Queen's defeat by making Angus a Lord of the Articles, included in the council of regency, and bearer of the king's crown on the opening of the session, and with Archbishop Beaton held the chief power.

Albany had (with Jean Abernethy) an illegitimate daughter, Eleanor Stewart, who married Jean de L'Hopital, comte de Choisy, later the tutor of the Dauphin Francis
Francis II of France
Francis II was aged 15 when he succeeded to the throne of France after the accidental death of his father, King Henry II, in 1559. He reigned for 18 months before he died in December 1560...

 (d. 1578). From their son Jacques de L'Hospital, 1st Marquess of Choisy, descends issue, for example the Dukes of Castries and the MacMahon Dukes of Magenta.

After his overthrow from Scottish regency, Albany lived mainly in France. John's French wife, Duchess Anne died in St.Saturnin in June 1524. This was just after their only daughter, Anne Stewart (Anne de Stuart d'Auvergne) died in her teens and without any children of her own. Duchess Anne left her inheritance (Auvergne) to her infant niece, donna Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici was an Italian noblewoman who was Queen consort of France from 1547 until 1559, as the wife of King Henry II of France....

 (b. 1519), daughter of John's first cousin and Anne's younger sister the late Madeleine of Auvergne, and Lorenzo II de' Medici, Duke of Urbino. Catherine, or rather her guardians in France, thus received the county of Auvergne.

Military service in France and the Four Years' War

During the Italian Wars
Italian Wars
The Italian Wars, often referred to as the Great Italian Wars or the Great Wars of Italy and sometimes as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts from 1494 to 1559 that involved, at various times, most of the city-states of Italy, the Papal States, most of the major states of Western...

 (1521–1525), between France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 and the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

, Albany was placed in command of a third of Francis I
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...

's Army and sent to attack the Papal forces
Papal States
The Papal State, State of the Church, or Pontifical States were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...

 and to launch an attack on Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

, then held by the Spanish. Due to inept leadership the remaining two thirds of the army met with Imperial forces at Pavia
Battle of Pavia
The Battle of Pavia, fought on the morning of 24 February 1525, was the decisive engagement of the Italian War of 1521–26.A Spanish-Imperial army under the nominal command of Charles de Lannoy attacked the French army under the personal command of Francis I of France in the great hunting preserve...

 in 1525 and were routed with Francis and countless other French Nobles taken hostage. Albany's section of the army suffered numerous ambushes and desertions, and he returned to a cowed France without having reached Naples.

Later years

Albany also lived in Rome as a diplomat working for France and Scotland. The Spanish ambassador Miçer Mai mentions meeting him at the Papal Palace and then holding negotiations at the Imperial Embassy in August 1531. Albany was delegated to negotiate with Pope Clement VI
Pope Clement VI
Pope Clement VI , bornPierre Roger, the fourth of the Avignon Popes, was pope from May 1342 until his death in December of 1352...

 for a marriage between James V and Catherine de'Medici, the young Duchess of Urbino in 1530. This was perhaps a diplomatic manoeuvre to force Francis I of France
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...

 to honour a clause in the 1517 Treaty of Rouen
Treaty of Rouen
The Treaty of Rouen was signed on August 26, 1517 between France and Scotland. The treaty provided the renewal of the Auld Alliance in terms of mutual military assistance and reciprocal aid...

 which promised the Scottish King a royal French bride. In May 1531, Albany was instructed that this marriage was off, and it was planned that James V would be engaged to Christina of Denmark
Christina of Denmark
Christina of Denmark was a Danish princess who became Duchess-consort of Milan, then Duchess-consort of Lorraine...

.

Francis I of France met John Stewart at Riom
Riom
Riom is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-History:Until the French Revolution, Riom was the capital of the province of Auvergne, and the seat of the dukes of Auvergne. The city was of Gaulish origin, the Roman Ricomagus...

 in the Auvergne
Auvergne (province)
Auvergne was a historic province in south central France. It was originally the feudal domain of the Counts of Auvergne. It is now the geographical and cultural area that corresponds to the former province....

 on 10 July 1533. They received Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was a prominent Tudor politician. He was uncle to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, two of the wives of King Henry VIII, and played a major role in the machinations behind these marriages...

. Sir Anthony Browne, Keeper of the Jewels of Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

, described the reception of the French king at nearby towns organised by Albany in his letter to Thomas Cromwell. Charles, Duke of Vendôme also attended the meeting at Riom. In June, Francis had written to James V of Scotland from Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

 that he would offer him a bride from a noble French family, "as if she were his proper daughter." Two years later, James V of Scotland commissioned Albany to contract his marriage to Charles of Vendôme's daughter, Mary of Bourbon
Mary of Bourbon
Mary of Bourbon or Marie de Bourbon was a daughter of Charles, Duke of Vendôme and Françoise d'Alençon, daughter of René, Duke of Alençon. Mary was the subject of marriage negotiations of James V of Scotland. He visited her in France, but subsequently married the Princess Madeleine...

. James V subsequently travelled to France to meet Mary of Bourbon, but married the Princess Madeleine of Valois instead.
Albany and the Duchess of Vendôme
Françoise d'Alençon
Françoise d'Alençon was the eldest daughter of René of Alençon and Margaret of Lorraine, and the younger sister and despoiled heiress of Charles IV, Duke of Alençon....

 were at Cambrai
Cambrai
Cambrai is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Cambrai is the seat of an archdiocese whose jurisdiction was immense during the Middle Ages. The territory of the Bishopric of Cambrai, roughly coinciding with the shire of Brabant, included...

 on 16 August 1535 when the Queen of France and met the Queen of Hungary. The daughters of the Francis I were there too.
In 1533, Catherine, one of his closest surviving relatives, who held him as an uncle and sort of guardian, came from Italy to marry Henry, Duke of Orleans
Henry II of France
Henry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...

, second son of king Francis I. In 1536, young Henry became Dauphin of France and Catherine was destined to become queen.

When Albany, the penultimate unquestionably legitimate agnate of the Royal House of Stewart, died on 2 June 1536 at Mirefleur Castle in Auvergne, the position of next heir of Scotland went for the first time to a descendant from the female line, who at the time was James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran
James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran
James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault and 2nd Earl of Arran was a Scottish nobleman.-Biography:He was the eldest legitimate son of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran....

 (c. 1516-75), son of another grandson of king James II.

European craftsmen in Scotland

Albany brought a number of foreigh craftsmen to work in Scotland in 1515. 'Johne Belloun,' Frenchmen or 'Master Johne Carvour' worked on new windows and doors for the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and repaired a number of spears and pikes
Pike (weapon)
A pike is a pole weapon, a very long thrusting spear used extensively by infantry both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a counter-measure against cavalry assaults. Unlike many similar weapons, the pike is not intended to be thrown. Pikes were used regularly in European warfare from the...

. An Italian called 'Auld Julian' made 6000 bricks at Tranent
Tranent
Tranent is a town in East Lothian, Scotland. It is close to the A1 road and approximately east of Edinburgh. It is one of the oldest towns in East Lothian, and built on a gentle slope, about 300 feet above sea level.Population of the town is 9,917....

 to be used for building a furnace at the armoury in Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear...

, where the master gun-founder Robert Borthwick was joined by the Frenchmen, 'Johne Bukkat' and his appentice 'Perys.' At Crawford Moor
Crawfordjohn
Crawfordjohn is a small village and civil parish located in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.It is west of Abington and north east of Leadhills, near junction 13 of the M74. It lies to the north of the Duneaton Water, a tributary of the River Clyde. It is known for the manufacture of curling stones....

, 'Johne Drane', a Frenchman was a refiner, washer, and melter of gold. In 1516, Albany appointed a French gunner, Jehannot de Lavall, as Master Keeper of the royal artillery. This position had last been given to Lord Sinclair
Lord Sinclair
Lord Sinclair is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1449 for William Sinclair, 3rd Earl of Orkney. In 1470, Lord Orkney surrendered the earldom in return for the earldom of Caithness. In 1477, Lord Caithness wished to disinherit his eldest son from his first marriage to Lady...

.
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