King James I

A reign that was born in violence.



The reign of James I was nothing if not dramatic. It started with a high-profile execution and ended with the King's own violent death at the hands of a gang of assassins.

Between times the money, or rather the lack of it, dominated his affairs.

Having established his authority by beheading Murdoch, the hapless Governor of the kingdom during the last years of his captivity, James espoused a lifestyle arguably beyond Scotland's modest means.

He spent lavishly on the trappings of his court, built the extravagant Linlithgow Palace, and indulged his passion for expensive cannon.

He was a paradox of a man, a talented musician and poet, and a bully with a mercurial temper.

Ultimately, he tried to raise a tax too far and was stabbed by assassins led by one of Murdoch's kinsmen.

His legacy was re-establishing a powerful central government, and setting the standards of the great European courts for his heirs.

On the face of it, the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France was an unlikely accord, uniting as it did a tiny nation on the edge of Europe with one of the superpowers of the day.

There are those who might argue there could be no stronger bond than a mutual distrust of the English kings' predatory ambitions.

But the Alliance seems to have been founded in a common bond between the two nations.

The French kept their side of the bargain by giving refuge to the likes of Robert Bruce's infant son David.

And the Scots more than repaid the debt, often with their lives. Scots armies frequently went to the aid of the French, and there is even a lost clan, which apparently settled in the Swiss Alps.

Whatever the glue that kept it together, the Auld Alliance was a force to be reckoned with in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries.

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