James I Stewart

   Cause of his death was Murdered by his uncle, Walter Stuart, Earl of Atholl..²²

  General Notes:

In 1402 his elder brother, David, starved to death in prison at Falkland in Fife. Before the death of his father in 1406 the authorities sent James to France for safety.

On the journey to France, the English captured the young prince and handed him over to Henry IV, who imprisoned him and demanded a ransom. Robert III allegedly died from grief over the capture of James. James's uncle, Robert Stewart, 1st Duke of Albany, who became Regent on the death of Robert III, showed no haste in paying for his nephew's release. Albany secured the release of his own son Murdoch, captured at the Battle of Halidon Hill, but not so James. So for the next 18 years James remained a prisoner/hostage in England. Henry IV had the young Scots King imprisoned and educated in Windsor Castle and in secure large country houses near London. After the death of James's uncle in 1420, the Scots finally paid the ransom of £40,000 and in 1424 James returned to Scotland to find a country in chaos. He took his bride with him - he had met and fallen in love with Joan Beaufort, a cousin of Henry VI, while imprisoned. He married her in London in February 2 1423. They would have eight children.

Scholars believe that during his captivity James wrote The Kingis Quair, an allegorical romance, one of the earliest major works of Scottish literature.

James was formally crowned King of Scots at Scone Abbey, Perthshire, on May 2 or 21, 1424. He immediately took strong actions to regain authority and control. In one such action he had the Albany family, who had opposed his actions, executed. The execution of Murdoch, Duke of Albany, and two of Murdoch's sons took place on May 24 1425 at Castle Hill, Stirling.

James proceeded to rule Scotland with a firm hand and achieved numerous financial and legal reforms. For instance, for the purpose of trade with other nations, he made Scots coinage exchangeable for foreign currency only within Scottish borders. He also tried to remodel the Parliament of Scotland along English lines. However, in foreign policy, he renewed the Auld Alliance, a Scottish-French alliance, in 1428.

His actions throughout his reign, though effective, upset many people. During the later years of his reign they helped to lead to his claim to the throne coming under question.

James I's grandfather, Robert II, had married twice and the awkward circumstances of the first marriage (the one with James's grandmother Elizabeth Mure) led some to dispute its validity. Conflict broke out between the descendants of the first marriage and the unquestionably legitimate descendants of the second marriage over who had the better right to the Scottish throne. Matters came to a head on February 21 1437 when a group of Scots led by Sir Robert Graham assassinated James at the Friars Preachers Monastery in Perth. He attempted to escape his assailants through a sewer. However, three days previously, he had had the other end of the drain blocked up because of its connection to the tennis court outside, balls habitually got lost in it.

A wave of executions followed in March 1437 of those who had participated in the plot. The authorities executed (among others) James's uncle, Walter Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl, and Atholl's grandson, Robert Stewart, Master of Atholl - both of them descended from Robert II's second marriage). ²⁶

James married Lady Joan Beaufort, daughter of John Beaufort Earl of Somerset, Marquess of Somerset and Margaret Holland, on 2 Feb 1424 in Priory Church, Southwark, London.²² (Lady Joan Beaufort died on 15 Jul 1445 ²².)