Author: JAMES I, King of Scotland
Biography:
JAMES I, King of Scotland (1394-1437: ODNB)
James was born at Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1394. He was the youngest child and second son of Robert III of Scotland and his wife Annabella Drummond. His early life was spent at Dunfermline and Scone with his mother. His brother’s death in 1402 made James heir to the throne and in 1406 he was travelling to France for safety against English capture when he was intercepted by English pirates on 22 Mar. The situation was made worse by the death of Robert III on 4 April. Although he was allowed to play a role in the English court, James was nominally a prisoner in the Tower and other English castles until 1424, the same year that he married Joan Beaufort, a daughter of John of Gaunt. With his queen, he travelled to Scone where they were crowned in May 1424. During his time in England James had developed strong ideas about the importance of his role as king and the centrality of the royal court; these did not fit well with the very different reality of Scottish life and he found himself in conflict with the lords of the islands. Nor did James win favour with his Scottish subjects through his relentless financial demands—particularly for his lavish spending on the royal residences and a new palace at Linlithgow. James did succeed in fostering Scottish ties with France, including through the marriage of his daughter Margaret to the French dauphin. However, Scotland was in trouble internally and, during an attempted coup, James was assassinated on 20 Feb. 1437. He was buried on 21 Feb. at the Carthusian priory at Perth. James was succeeded by his young son, James II. In time James I came to be admired more as a talented poet—especially for “The Kingis Quair”—than as a successful ruler. William Tytler (1711-92), the editor of the book listed in this bibliography, was an Edinburgh writer to the signet (solicitor) and historian. He married Anne Craig in Sept. 1745; Alexander Fraser Tytler (q.v.) was one of their eight children. Tytler’s book includes his account of the life of James I and a justification for attributing “Of Christ’s Kirk” to James I rather than to James V (q.v.). It also includes the first printing of “The Kingis Quair,” transcribed from a manuscript in the Bodleian library. (ODNB 29 Jan. 2025; William Tytler, Poetical Remains [1783]; ancestry.co.uk 29 Jan. 2025)