by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

James III, King of Scots was the eldest of the four sons and the eldest of the six children of James II, King of Scots and Mary of Guelders. His birth date and birthplace are uncertain: either May 1452 at St. Andrew’s Castle or July 10, 1451 or July 20, 1451 at Stirling Castle. At birth, James was heir to the throne and became Duke of Rothesay and Prince and Steward of Scotland.

James had six siblings:

• Unnamed son (born and died May 19, 1450)
• Mary Stewart (1453 – 1488), married (1) Thomas Boyd, 1st Earl of Arran, marriage annulled, had two children (2) James Hamilton, 1st Lord Hamilton, had three children, great-great-grandparents of Henry, Lord Darnley (the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots)
• Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany (circa 1454 – 1485), married (1) Lady Katherine Sinclair, had two sons, marriage annulled (2) Anne de la Tour d’Auvergne, had two children; Alexander was killed in a duel by the Duke of Orléans (the future King Louis XII of France)
• Margaret Stewart (born circa 1455), mistress of and possibly married William Crichton, 3rd Lord Crichton of Auchingoul, had one daughter
• David Stewart, Earl of Moray (circa 1456 – 1457), died young
• John Stewart, 1st Earl of Mar and Garioch (circa 1459 – 1479), unmarried, accused of treason, died under suspicious circumstances

In 1460, James II, King of Scots besieged Roxburgh Castle near the English border in support of King Henry VI. On August 3, 1460, 29-year-old James II, King of Scots was accidentally killed when a cannon nearby where he was standing exploded. As with the start of the reigns of James I and James II, Scotland once again had a child king. Mary of Guelders served as the regent for her nine-year-old son until her death three years later. The later Scottish Stuarts, James IV, James V, Mary, Queen of Scots, and James VI, would also be child monarchs. James II’s death also continued the violent deaths of the Scottish Stuarts which started with the assassination of his father James I and continued with the deaths in battle of James III and James IV and the beheading of Mary, Queen of Scots.

James III was crowned on August 10, 1460, at Kelso Abbey by James Kennedy, Bishop of St. Andrews.  Bishop Kennedy and his brother Gilbert Kennedy, 1st Lord Kennedy served as regents with Mary of Guelders, the young king’s mother. The Kennedys’ mother had been a daughter of Robert III, King of Scots. After the death of Mary of Guelders in 1463 and Bishop Kennedy in 1465, Robert Boyd, 1st Lord Boyd became regent.

In 1466, while James III was at Linlithgow Castle, he was taken by force to Edinburgh Castle in a conspiracy with Robert Boyd, 1st Lord Boyd and Boyd’s brother Sir Alexander Boyd. The 14-year-old king was forced to state to Parliament that he had given his royal assent to the abduction. Parliament then made Robert Boyd, 1st Lord Boyd Governor of the Realm, Great Chamberlain, and Lord Justice General. Robert Boyd also arranged the marriage of his eldest son Thomas Boyd, created Earl of Arran for that occasion, and Mary, elder sister of James III. The marriage aroused the jealousy of the other nobles and James III considered the marriage an insult he could not forgive.

A marriage between James III and Margaret of Denmark, the only daughter of King Christian I of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, and Dorothea of Brandenburg had been suggested as a way to end the conflict between Denmark and Scotland that had been going on since 1426. In 1266, Scotland and Norway signed the Treaty of Perth which ended military conflict over the sovereignty of the Hebrides and the Isle of Man. The treaty recognized Scottish sovereignty over the disputed territories in return for a lump sum of 4,000 marks and an annual payment of 100 marks to Norway. Scotland had stopped the annual payment in 1426.

The marriage contract was signed on September 8, 1468. King James III pledged to Margaret a third of the royal possessions and income, including Linlithgow Palace, Stirling Castle, and Doune Castle. King Christian I of Denmark pledged a dowry of 60,000 Rhenish florins with a payment of 10,000 florins due before Margaret left Copenhagen. However, King Christian I was only able to raise 2,000 florins. The Orkney Islands and the Shetland Islands were pledged by King Christian in his capacity as King of Norway, as security against the payment of the dowry. However, the money was never paid, and the Orkney Islands and the Shetland Islands were annexed by the Kingdom of Scotland in 1472.

On July 13, 1469, at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh, Scotland, 13-year-old Margaret of Denmark married 17-year-old James III, King of Scots.

James and Margaret had three sons:

• James IV, King of Scots (1473 – 1513), married Margaret Tudor, had issue
• James Stewart, Duke of Ross (1476 – 1504), unmarried
• John Stewart, Earl of Mar (1479 – 1503), unmarried

At the time of his marriage, James III assumed all the powers of the crown. He never forgot his abduction by the Boyds and his sister’s marriage to a Boyd. The Boyds were found guilty of treason. Robert Boyd, 1st Lord Boyd fled to England and died within the year. His son Thomas Boyd was warned by his wife Mary and fled to the European continent. Their marriage was annulled. Lord Boyd’s brother Sir Alexander Boyd was not so fortunate. He was arrested and executed.

From 1471 to 1473, James III pursued unrealistic plans for territorial expansion on the European continent. He proposed the conquest or annexation of the Duchy of Brittany, Saintonge, a French province on the west-central Atlantic coast, and the Duchy of Guelders. These planned projects led to violent criticism in the Scottish Parliament, mainly because the king was more inclined to devote himself to art and occultism rather than domestic politics.

In 1474, James III allied with the English King Edward IV. James III’s son, the future King James IV, was to be married to Edward IV’s daughter Cecily of York. This alliance with the enemy of Scotland and the taxes raised for financing the wedding were just some of the reasons that made James III very unpopular with the nobles. The marriage never happened.

In 1479, James III’s two brothers Alexander, Duke of Albany and John, Earl of Mar caused trouble and were imprisoned. The Earl of Mar died under suspicious circumstances, possibly killed on orders of James III. The Duke of Albany escaped to France having been accused of treason. In 1479, the alliance with England collapsed, and from 1480, there were intermittent border wars. King Edward IV of England launched an invasion of Scotland in 1482 led by his brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later King Richard III ), and James III’s brother Alexander, who had ambitions to seize the throne of Scotland as Alexander IV.

As James III was planning a defense against the invasion, he was arrested in July 1482 by dissatisfied nobles, most likely allies of his brother Alexander.  James III was imprisoned at Edinburgh Castle. In the autumn of 1482, a new government under Alexander, as Lieutenant-General, took power. In the meantime, the English army had run out of money, was unable to take Edinburgh Castle, and returned to England.

James III regained power by bringing members of Alexander’s interim government over to his side with bribery. Alexander unsuccessfully attempted to claim his dead brother’s earldom of Mar. In January 1483, Alexander retired to his lands in Dunbar. After the death of his patron, King Edward IV, in April 1483, Alexander no longer had any influence and fled to England. From there he undertook another invasion of Scotland in 1484, which failed. In 1485, Alexander left Scotland for good. Later in the same year, Alexander was killed in a duel by the Duke of Orléans, the future King Louis XII of France.

Although James III could have been murdered or executed during his imprisonment in Edinburgh Castle, he did not change his behavior. He was still convinced he could form an alliance with England and favored a group of friends who were unpopular with the more powerful nobles. He refused to travel through the country to exercise the necessary judicial power and instead remained in Edinburgh.

James was alienated from his wife Margaret, who lived in Stirling Castle, and increasingly also from his eldest son. Margaret was a popular queen and was described as beautiful, gentle, and reasonable. Many later historians called her far better qualified to rule than her husband. During the crisis of 1482, when her husband was deprived of power for several months, Margaret showed a greater interest in the welfare of her children than that of her husband, leading to the couple’s alienation. Margaret died on July 14, 1486, at the age of 30, and was buried at Cambuskenneth Abbey. After her death, there were suspicions that she had been poisoned by John Ramsay, 1st Lord Bothwell, a confidant of James III, although no evidence was found to support the charge.

The political quarrels reached their climax in 1488. Disgruntled nobles set up an army to overthrow the hated king. On June 11, 1488, James was killed in the Battle of Sauchieburn. The circumstances of James III’s death were greatly exaggerated and romanticized by the 16th-century chroniclers. Supposedly, he was murdered when he went to seek refuge in a cottage shortly after the battle in Milltown near Bannockburn. Most likely, James III, King of Scots had already died on the battlefield. He was then buried in Cambuskenneth Abbey. James III’s eldest son succeeded to the throne as James IV, King of Scots, and reigned for 25 years until he was killed in the Battle of Flodden. Throughout his reign, James IV wore a heavy iron chain around his waist as penance for his role in his father’s death.

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Works Cited

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