James STEWART, III KING
Birth:
10 Jul 1451
Stirling, Scotland
Death:
11 Jun 1488
Scotland
Marriage:
10 Jul 1469
Scotland
Father:
Notes:
"Born at Stirling on 10 July 1451, James was nine when he inherited hisfather's throne.
His mother ruled as Regent until she died in 1463. James' long minoritywas marked by unstable relations with England and ambitious aristocraticfactions.
He began to rule for himself in 1469, soon facing great difficulties inrestoring strong central government, shortly after his marriage to thepious Princess Margaret of Denmark.
Margaret's father, King Christian I of Denmark and Norway, undertook togive her a dowry of 60,000 florins of the Rhine, but as he could notraise the full amount it was agreed that he should pay 10,000 florins andpledge his lands and rights in Orkney as security for the remainder.
Unable to assemble the rest of the money in time, he had to pledge hispossessions in Shetland as well. Most of the lands and revenues in theislands already belonged to the earldom of Orkney, and in 1471 James IIIpersuaded the Earl of Orkney to exchange his property there for lands inFife.
Christian I was never able to redeem his pledge, and so Orkney andShetland remained Scottish possessions.
The ever-present English threat was temporarily solved by a truce withEdward IV in 1463.
Condemned by contemporaries and criticised by later historians as beingweak and grasping, James III nevertheless combined a full measure of theRoyal Stewart energy and intelligence with a love of the arts, and hiscoinage was the first in Scotland or England to bear a true likeness ofthe monarch.
His preference for the company of scholars, architects and artistsinfuriated his nobles, and his own brothers, Alexander, Duke of Albanyand John, Earl of Mar regarded him with jealousy verging on hatred.
In 1479, James' brothers were arrested on suspicion of conspiring againstthe Crown. The Earl of Mar died in suspicious circumstances, whilst theDuke of Albany escaped to England.
James' estrangement from his brothers and a strong faction within theScottish nobility led to the final loss of Berwick and a coup at Lauder,Berwickshire in July 1482, when the king was removed to Edinburgh Castle,some minor members of his household were hanged (including his favouriteRobert Cochrane) and the more important ones banished.
Although James tried to settle his differences with the Duke of Albany,his brother again tried to win the kingdom (Edward IV had recognised himas Alexander IV in 1482). The Duke of Albany was exiled to France.
After his queen's death in 1486, James lived in increasing isolation inStirling Castle amidst growing rumours of his cupidity (he conferred anearldom on his favourite, John Ramsay) and his undesirable friendshipwith England.
Finally, the Scottish nobles seized his eldest son and defeated James atthe Battle of Sauchieburn, three miles south-west of Stirling, on 11 June1488. He was thrown from his horse as he fled from the field.
Carried into a nearby cottage, he called for a priest, whereupon amysterious figure forced his way in, exclaimed, 'I will shrive thee' andstabbed him to death. James was buried at Cambuskenneth Abbey nearStirling."
-- Royal Household
Copyright © 2001-2005, Tim Dowling
email: tdowling_53223@yahoo.com
Margarethe OF DENMARK, QUEEN OF SCOTLAND
Birth:
23 Jun 1456
Kbenhavn, Denmark
Death:
14 Jul 1486
Scotland
Father:
Mother:
Notes:
Copyright © 2001-2005, Tim Dowling
email: tdowling_53223@yahoo.com
Children
Marriage
1
Birth:
17 Mar 1472/73
Scotland
Death:
9 Sep 1513
Battle of Flodden, Branxton, Northumberland, England
Notes:
"James IV, born on 17 March 1473, was 15 when he was forced him to rideto the Battle of Sauchieburn where his father was killed. For the rest ofhis life he wore an iron belt as a penance.
For the first time in a century, Scotland had a king who was able tostart ruling for himself at once for, as Erasmus once commented, 'He hadwonderful powers of mind, an astonishing knowledge of everything, anunconquerable magnanimity and the most abundant generosity.'
He spoke Latin (at that time the international language), French, German,Flemish, Italian, Spanish and some Gaelic, and took an active interest inliterature, science and the law, even trying his hand at dentistry andminor surgery.
With his patronage the printing press came to Scotland, and the RoyalCollege of Surgeons in Edinburgh, St Leonard's College, St Andrews andKing's College, Aberdeen were founded.
He commissioned building work at the royal residences of LinlithgowPalace, Edinburgh Castle and Stirling Castle, and developed a strong navyled by his flagship, the Great Michael, said to be the largest vessel ofthe time.
Under James' vigorous rule, he extended royal administration to the westand north - by 1493, he had overcome the last independent lord of theIsles.
To begin with, relations with England were difficult: in 1495, Jamessupported the pretender Perkin Warbeck in his claim to the Englishthrone. Even so, he was anxious to maintain peace with England andconcluded a peace treaty in 1502.
After the death of his mistress Margaret Drummond, who was poisoned alongwith her sisters, presumably to prevent her from marrying the king, Jamesaccepted Henry VII's offer of his daughter Princess Margaret Tudor as abride.
'The Marriage of the Thistle and the Rose' took place at Holyrood on 8August 1503. Although this match had great significance in the long term(after the death of Elizabeth I of England and the end of the Tudordynasty, the two thrones were inherited by James' and Margaret'sgreat-grandson James I and VI), it did not at once improve Anglo-Scottishrelations.
When Henry VIII joined the Holy Alliance against France, and Englandinvaded France in 1513, James felt that he must assist Scotland's oldally under the 'Auld Alliance'.
He led his army - one of the largest ever to cross the border - south.The English forces, led by Lord Surrey, inflicted a crushing defeat.James and many of his nobles died at the head of his men in thedisastrous Battle of Flodden, three miles south-east of Coldstream,Northumberland on 9 September 1513. "
-- Royal Household
Copyright © 2001-2005, Tim Dowling
email: tdowling_53223@yahoo.com
FamilyCentral Network
James Stewart, III King - Margarethe of Denmark, Queen of Scotland
James Stewart, III King
was born at Stirling, Scotland 10 Jul 1451.
His parents were James Stewart, II King and Maria Guelders, Princess of Guelders.
He married Margarethe of Denmark, Queen of Scotland 10 Jul 1469 at Scotland . Margarethe of Denmark, Queen of Scotland was born at Kbenhavn, Denmark 23 Jun 1456 daughter of Christian of Denmark, I King and Dorothea of Brandenburg, Queen .
They were the parents of 1
child:
James of Scotland, IV King
born 17 Mar 1472/73.
James Stewart, III King died 11 Jun 1488 at Scotland .
Margarethe of Denmark, Queen of Scotland died 14 Jul 1486 at Scotland .