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James I (late July 1394 – 21 February 1437), King of Scotland from 1406, was the son of King Robert III and Annabella Drummond. He was the last of three sons and by the time he was eight both of his elder brothers were dead—Robert had died in infancy but David, Duke of Rothesay died suspiciously in Falkland Castle while being detained by his uncle, Robert, Duke of Albany. Although parliament exonerated Albany, fears for James's safety grew during the winter of 1405–6 and plans were made to send him to France. In February 1406, James was accompanying nobles close to his father when they clashed with supporters of Archibald, 4th Earl of Douglas, forcing the prince to take refuge in the castle of the Bass Rock, a small islet in the Firth of Forth. He remained there until mid-March, when he boarded a vessel bound for France, but on 22 March while off the English coast, pirates captured the ship and delivered James to Henry IV of England. Two weeks later, on 4 April the ailing Robert III died, and the 12-year-old uncrowned King of Scots began his 18-year detention. James was given a good education at the English court, where he developed respect for English methods of governance and for Henry V to the extent that he served in the English army against the French during 1420–1. The Scottish king's cousin Murdoch Stewart, Albany's son, a captive in England since 1402 was traded for Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland in 1416. Eight more years passed before James was ransomed by which time Murdoch had succeeded his father to the dukedom and the governorship of Scotland. James married Joan Beaufort, daughter of the Earl of Somerset in February 1424 shortly before his release in April when they journeyed to Scotland. This was not altogether a popular re-entry to Scottish affairs, since James had fought on behalf of Henry V and at times against Scottish forces in France. Noble families would now not only have to pay increased taxes to cover the £40,000 ransom repayments but would also have to provide hostages as security. Despite this, James held qualities that were admired. The contemporary ''Scotichronicon'' by Walter Bower described James as excelling at sport and appreciative of literature and music. Unlike his father and grandfather he did not take mistresses, but had many children by his consort, Queen Joan. The king had a strong desire to impose law and order on his subjects, but applied it selectively at times. To bolster his authority and secure the position of the crown, James launched pre-emptive attacks on some of his nobles beginning in 1425 with his close kinsmen the Albany Stewarts resulting in the execution of Duke Murdoch and his sons. In 1428 James detained Alexander, Lord of the Isles, while attending a parliament in Inverness. Archibald, 5th Earl of Douglas, was arrested in 1431, followed by George, Earl of March, in 1434. The plight of the ransom hostages held in England was ignored and the repayment money was diverted into the construction of Linlithgow Palace and other grandiose schemes. In August 1436, James failed humiliatingly in his siege of the English held Roxburgh Castle and then faced an ineffective attempt by Sir Robert Graham to arrest him at a general council. James was murdered at Perth on the night of 20/21 February 1437 in a failed coup by his uncle and former ally Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl. Queen Joan, although wounded, managed to evade the attackers and was eventually reunited with her son James II in Edinburgh Castle. ==Prince and Steward of Scotland== James was probably born in late July 1394 in Dunfermline, 27 years after the marriage of his parents Robert III and Annabella Drummond.〔Brown, ''James I'', p. 9〕 It was also at Dunfermline under his mother's care that James would have spent most of his early childhood.〔Brown M. H., ''James I'', ODNB〕 The prince was seven years old when his mother died in 1401 and a year later his elder brother David, Duke of Rothesay was probably murdered by their uncle Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany after being held at Albany's Falkland Castle.〔Boardman, ''David Stewart, Duke of Rothesay'' ODNB〕 Prince James, now heir to the throne, was the only impediment to the transfer of the royal line to the Albany Stewarts.〔Brown, ''James I'', p. 13〕 In 1402 Albany and his close Black Douglas〔The progenitor of the Black Douglas and Red Douglas lines was William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas. For further understanding of this, see the following articles: *Earl of Douglas *Earl of Angus *George Douglas, 1st Earl of Angus〕 ally Archibald, 4th Earl of Douglas were absolved of any involvement in Rothesay's death clearing the way for Albany's re-appointed as the king's lieutenant. Albany rewarded Douglas for his support by allowing him to resume hostilities in England.〔Boardman,''Early Stewart Kings'', pp. 239–246〕 The Albany and Douglas affinity received a serious reversal in September 1402 when their large army was defeated by the English at Homildon and numerous prominent nobles and their followers were captured. These included Douglas himself, Albany's son Murdoch, and the earls of Moray, Angus and Orkney. That same year, as well as the death of Rothesay, Alexander Leslie, Earl of Ross and Malcolm Drummond, lord of Mar had also died. The void created by these events was inevitably filled by lesser men who had not previously been conspicuously politically active.〔Boardman, ''Early Stewart Kings'', pp. 246–7〕 In the years between 1402 and 1406, the northern earldoms of Ross, Moray and Mar were without adult leadership and with Murdoch Stewart, the Justiciar for the territory north of the Forth, a prisoner in England, Albany found himself reluctantly having to form an alliance with his brother Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan and Buchan's son, also called Alexander to hold back the ambitions of the Lord of the Isles.〔Boardman,''Early Stewart Kings'', p. 260〕 Douglas's absence from his power base in the Lothians and the Scottish Marches encouraged King Robert's close allies Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney and Sir David Fleming of Biggar to take full advantage to become the principal political force in that region.〔 In December 1404 the king granted the royal Stewart lands in the west, in Ayrshire and around the Firth of Clyde, to James in regality protecting them from outside interference and providing the prince with a territorial centre should the need arise.〔Brown, ''James I'', pp. 13–4〕 Yet, in 1405 James was under the protection and tutelage of Bishop Henry Wardlaw of St Andrews on the country's east coast. Douglas animosity was intensifying because of the activities of Orkney and Fleming who continued to expand their involvement in border politics and foreign relations with England.〔Brown, ''James I'', pp. 14–6〕 Although a decision to send the young prince to France and out of Albany's reach was taken in the winter of 1405–6 James's departure from Scotland was unplanned.〔Boardman,''Early Stewart Kings'', pp. 291, 293〕 In February 1406 Bishop Wardlaw released James to Orkney and Fleming who, with their large force of Lothian adherents, proceeded into hostile Douglas east Lothian. James's custodians may have been giving a demonstration of royal approval to further their interests in Douglas country.〔Boardman,''Early Stewart Kings'', pp. 293–4〕 This provoked a fierce response from James Douglas of Balvenie and his supporters who, at a place called Long Hermiston Muir engaged with and killed Fleming while Orkney and James escaped to the comparative safety of the Bass Rock islet in the Firth of Forth.〔〔Brown, ''James I'', p. 16〕 They endured more than a month on there before boarding the France bound ''Maryenknyght'', a ship from Danzig.〔Boardman,''Early Stewart Kings'', p. 296〕 On 22 March 1406 the ship was taken by English pirates and James became the hostage of King Henry IV of England. Robert III was at Rothesay Castle when he learned of his son's capture and died soon after on 4 April 1406 and was buried in the Stewart foundation abbey of Paisley.〔Penman, ''Kings and Queens of Scotland'', p. 134〕〔Boardman,''Early Stewart Kings'', p. 297〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「James I of Scotland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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