1.
William Miller (engraver)
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William Miller was a Scottish Quaker line engraver and watercolourist from Edinburgh. Miller became an apprentice to William Archibald in 1814 and his first published engraving was in that year, of an apple tree for William Archibald. This engraving appeared in Vol I of the Caledonian Horticultural Society and he spent four years with William Archibald, then setting up on his own account. At the end of 1819 he moved to Hackney to join the workshop of George Cooke, the premium paid for his eighteen-month stay with Cooke was £240. Other apprentices with Cooke included William Shotter Boys, in the 1830s his address is listed as 4 Hope Park, in the Meadows area of Edinburgh. Whilst an apprentice with Cooke, Miller drew a series of plants from the nursery of Loddiges. These were engraved by Cooke and published in volumes v - vii of Loddiges Botanical Cabinet, London, Miller was one of the principal engravers of J. M. W. Turner. James Giles, one of William Millers pupils, wrote some reminiscences of his time as an apprentice at Hope Park, writing from Redhill on 17 September 1883, Wm Millers admiration of Turner was unbounded, and his pupils soon caught the infection. The plates for Rogerss poems were engraved before my time, but not published till afterwards, I beg however to differ from Ruskin in my estimate of them. I should have been appalled, but your father made light of it, I need hardly say that it is as the interpreter of Turner your fathers fame very much rests, and that Turner himself preferred the Scotch Quaker to all other engravers. The skill with which he translated the high aerial effects was beyond all rivalry, in making the outline drawings for transference to the plate, we were instructed to preserve every minute touch, indeed, keeping the touch was a point much insisted on. I remember an instance of this. I asked your fathers opinion, he reply was Oh, just keep the touch, the High School in Turners drawing was little more than a white patch. Your father did the foreground, and I believe, the sheep, but St. Anthonys Chapel, and the various distant buildings were etched by me - the latter from the sketches I had taken. For closeness of line and minute detail, it is the most laborious plate I was ever engaged on, of course, the beautiful effects depend entirely on the finish of your father. I had only to do with the mechanical part - the body - the soul is his, in the case of Turners figures, perhaps keeping the touch was carried too far. Your father usually etched the foreground of the plates his pupils worked upon, Turners touched proofs were always an object of interest in the workroom. I recollect on the margin of one of them he had written, Mr Miller will please return all my touched proofs
2.
Gatehouse
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A gatehouse, in architectural terminology, is a building enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a castle, manor house, fort, town or similar buildings of importance. Gatehouses made their first appearance in the early antiquity when it became necessary to protect the entrance to a castle or town. Over time, they evolved into very complicated structures with many lines of defence, strongly fortified gatehouses would normally include a drawbridge, one or more portcullises, machicolations, arrow loops and possibly even murder-holes where stones would be dropped on attackers. In some castles, the gatehouse was so strongly fortified it took on the function of a keep, examples of such gate keeps can be found at Bodiam Castle and Beaumaris Castle. In the late Middle Ages, some of these arrow loops might have converted into gun loops. Sometimes gatehouses formed part of fortifications, perhaps defending the passage of a bridge across a river or a moat. York has four important gatehouses, known as Bars, in its city walls, the French term for gatehouse is logis-porche. This could be a large, complex structure that served both as a gateway and lodging or it could have composed of a gateway through an enclosing wall. A very large gatehouse might be called a châtelet, at the end of the Middle Ages, many gatehouses in England and France were converted into beautiful, grand entrance structures to manor houses or estates. Many of them became a separate feature free-standing or attached to the manor or mansion only by an enclosing wall, by this time the gatehouse had lost its defensive purpose and had become more of a monumental structure designed to harmonise with the manor or mansion. On the continent of Europe, there are examples of surviving gatehouses in France, Austria. Bargate, in Hampshire is a gatehouse in the city centre of Southampton. Constructed in 1180 as part of the Southampton town walls Ightham Mote, Durham Castle, in Durham has an 11th-century gatehouse that is now used as accommodation for students attending University College, Durham. Layer Marney Tower, the apotheosis of the Tudor gatehouse, stokesay Castle, a 13th-century fortified manor house in Shropshire has a Jacobean half-timbered gatehouse. Stanway House, Stanway, Gloucestershire, where the gatehouse measures 44 ft. by 22 ft. and has three storeys, westwood House, Worcestershire, which has a frontage of 54 ft. with two storeys. Burton Agnes Hall, East Riding of Yorkshire, which has three storeys and is flanked by octagonal towers at the angles. Hylton Castle, Hylton, Sunderland, although it is an actual castle, château de Châteaubriant, two gatehouses, one for the lower bailey, one for the upper ward. Château de Suscinio, a large 15th-century gatehouse in the style, Morbihan
3.
Scotland
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
4.
Palace
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A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name Palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which housed the Imperial residences, in many parts of Europe, the term is also applied to ambitious private mansions of the aristocracy. Many historic palaces are now put to uses such as parliaments, museums, hotels. The word is sometimes used to describe a lavishly ornate building used for public entertainment or exhibitions. The word palace comes from Old French palais, from Latin Palātium, the original palaces on the Palatine Hill were the seat of the imperial power while the capitol on the Capitoline Hill was the religious nucleus of Rome. Long after the city grew to the seven hills the Palatine remained a residential area. Emperor Caesar Augustus lived there in a purposely modest house only set apart from his neighbours by the two trees planted to flank the front door as a sign of triumph granted by the Senate. His descendants, especially Nero, with his Golden House, enlarged the house, the word Palātium came to mean the residence of the emperor rather than the neighbourhood on top of the hill. Palace meaning government can be recognized in a remark of Paul the Deacon, AD790 and describing events of the 660s, When Grimuald set out for Beneventum, he entrusted his palace to Lupus. At the same time, Charlemagne was consciously reviving the Roman expression in his palace at Aachen, in the 9th century, the palace indicated the housing of the government too, and the constantly travelling Charlemagne built fourteen. In the Holy Roman Empire the powerful independent Electors came to be housed in palaces and this has been used as evidence that power was widely distributed in the Empire, as in more centralized monarchies, only the monarchs residence would be a palace. In modern times, the term has been applied by archaeologists and historians to large structures that housed combined ruler, court, in informal usage, a palace can be extended to a grand residence of any kind. The earliest known palaces were the residences of the Egyptian Pharaohs at Thebes, featuring an outer wall enclosing labyrinthine buildings. Other ancient palaces include the Assyrian palaces at Nimrud and Nineveh, the Minoan palace at Knossos, the Brazilian new capital, Brasília, hosts modern palaces, most designed by the citys architect Oscar Niemeyer. The Alvorada Palace is the residence of the Brazils president. The Planalto Palace is the official workplace, the Jaburu Palace is the official residence of Brazils vice-president. In Canada, Government House is a given to the official residences of the Canadian monarchy. The use of the term Government House is a custom from the British Empire
5.
Fife
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Fife is a council area and historic county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with boundaries to Perth and Kinross. By custom it is held to have been one of the major Pictish kingdoms, known as Fib. It is an area, and was a county of Scotland until 1975. It was very occasionally known by the anglicisation Fifeshire in old documents, a person from Fife is known as a Fifer. Fife was a government region divided into three districts, Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and North-East Fife. Since 1996 the functions of the councils have been exercised by the unitary Fife Council. Fife is Scotlands third largest local authority area by population and it has a resident population of just under 367,000, over a third of whom live in the three principal towns of Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes. The historic town of St Andrews is located on the northeast coast of Fife and it is well known for the University of St Andrews, one of the most ancient universities in the world and is renowned as the home of golf. Fife, bounded to the north by the Firth of Tay, the earliest known reference to the common epithet The Kingdom of Fife dates from only 1678, in a proposition that the term derives from the quasi-regal privileges of the Earl of Fife. The notion of a kingdom may derive from a misintrepretation of an extract from Wyntoun, the name is recorded as Fib in A. D.1150 and Fif in 1165. It was often associated with Fothriff, the hill-fort of Clatchard Craig, near Newburgh, was occupied as an important Pictish stronghold between the sixth and eighth centuries AD. Fife was an important royal and political centre from the reign of King Malcolm III onwards, Malcolm had his principal home in Dunfermline and his wife Margaret was the main benefactor of Dunfermline Abbey. The Abbey replaced Iona as the resting place of Scotlands royal elite. The Earl of Fife was until the 15th century considered the principal peer of the Scottish realm, wool, linen, coal and salt were all traded. Salt pans heated by local coal were a feature of the Fife coast in the past, the distinctive red clay pan tiles seen on many old buildings in Fife arrived as ballast on trading boats and replaced the previously thatched roofs. This endeavour lasted until 1609 when the colonists, having been opposed by the population, were bought out by Kenneth Mackenzie. Fife became a centre of industry in the 19th century
6.
Dunfermline Abbey
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Dunfermline Abbey is a Church of Scotland Parish Church located in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. The minister is the Reverend MaryAnn R. Rennie, the church occupies the site of the ancient chancel and transepts of a large medieval Benedictine abbey, which was sacked in 1560 during the Scottish Reformation and permitted to fall into disrepair. Part of the old church continued in use at that time and some parts of the abbey infrastructure still remain to this day. Dunfermline Abbey is one of Scotlands most important cultural sites, Malcolm III or Malcolm Canmore, and his queen, St Margaret of Scotland. At its head was the Abbot of Dunfermline, the first of which was Geoffrey of Canterbury, former Prior of Christ Church, Canterbury, the Kent monastery that probably supplied Dunfermlines first monks. At the peak of its power it controlled four burghs, three courts of regality, and a portfolio of lands from Moray in the north south to Berwickshire. The foundations of the earliest church, namely the Church of the Holy Trinity, are under the superb Romanesque nave built in the 12th century. During the winter of 1303 the court of Edward I of England was held in the Abbey, during the Scottish Reformation, the abbey church was sacked in March 1560. Some parts of the infrastructure still remain, principally the vast refectory. The nave was also spared and it was repaired in 1570 by Robert Drummond of Carnock and it served as the parish church till the 19th century, and now forms the vestibule of a new church. Also of the monastery there still remains the south wall of the refectory, next to the abbey is the ruin of Dunfermline Palace, also part of the original abbey complex and connected to it via the gatehouse. Dunfermline Abbey, one of Scotlands most important cultural sites, has received more of Scotland’s royal dead than any place in the kingdom. One of the most notable names to be associated with the abbey is the northern renaissance poet. The tomb of Saint Margaret and Malcolm Canmore, within the walls of the Lady chapel, was restored and enclosed by command of Queen Victoria. The current building on the site of the choir of the old Abbey church is a Parish Church of the Church of Scotland, in 2002 the congregation had 806 members. The minister is the Reverend Mary Ann R. Rennie, the old building was a fine example of simple and massive Romanesque, as the nave testifies, and has a beautiful doorway in its west front. Another rich Romanesque doorway was exposed in the wall in 1903. A new site was found for this monument in order that the ancient, the venerable structure is maintained publicly, and private munificence has provided several stained-glass windows
7.
Scheduled monument
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In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation used for protecting heritage assets from damage. The protection given to scheduled monuments is given under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, a heritage asset is a part of the historic environment that is valued because of its historic, archaeological, architectural or artistic interest. Only some of these are judged to be important enough to have legal protection through designation. There are about 20,000 scheduled monuments in England representing about 37,000 heritage assets, of the tens of thousands of scheduled monuments in the UK, most are inconspicuous archaeological sites, but some are large ruins. According to the 1979 Act, a monument cannot be a structure which is occupied as a dwelling, as a rule of thumb, a protected historic asset that is occupied would be designated as a listed building. Scheduled Monuments are defined in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, in England, Wales and Scotland they are often referred to as a scheduled ancient monument, although the Act defines only ancient monument and scheduled monument. A monument can be, A building or structure, cave or excavation which is above or below the surface of the land, a site comprising any vehicle, vessel, aircraft or other moveable structure. In Northern Ireland they are designated under separate legislation and are referred to as a historic monument or a monument in state care. The first Act to enshrine legal protection for ancient monuments was the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 and this identified an initial list of 68 prehistoric sites, which were given a degree of legal protection. This was the result of strenuous representation by William Morris and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, which had been founded in 1877. Following various previous attempts, the 1882 legislation was guided through parliament by John Lubbock, the first Inspector of Ancient Monuments, as set up by the act, was Augustus Pitt Rivers. At this point, only the inspector, answering directly to the First Commissioner of Works, was involved in surveying the scheduled sites and persuading landowners to offer sites to the state. The act also established the concept of guardianship, in which a site might remain in private ownership, however the legislation could not compel landowners, as that level of state interference with private property was not politically possible. The Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1900 extended the scope of the legislation to include medieval monuments, in a speech in 1907, Robert Hunter, chairman of the National Trust, observed that only a further 18 sites had been added to the original list of 68. Charles Peers, an architect, was appointed as Inspector in 1910 in the Office of Works becoming Chief Inspector in 1913. The job title Inspector is still in use, scheduling offers protection because it makes it illegal to undertake a great range of works within a designated area, without first obtaining scheduled monument consent. However, it does not affect the owner’s freehold title or other interests in the land
8.
Malcolm III of Scotland
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Malcolm was King of Scots from 1058 to 1093. Malcolms long reign of 35 years preceded the beginning of the Scoto-Norman age and he is the historical equivalent of the character of the same name in William Shakespeares Macbeth. Malcolm III fought a series of wars against the Kingdom of England and these wars did not result in any significant advances southward. Malcolms second wife, St. Margaret of Scotland, is Scotlands only royal saint, Malcolm himself had no reputation for piety, with the notable exception of Dunfermline Abbey in Fife he is not definitely associated with major religious establishments or ecclesiastical reforms. Malcolms father Duncan I became king in late 1034, on the death of Malcolm II, Duncans maternal grandfather, Duncans reign was not successful and he was killed by Macbeth on 15 August 1040. Although Shakespeares Macbeth presents Malcolm as a man and his father as an old one, it appears that Duncan was still young in 1040. Malcolms family did attempt to overthrow Macbeth in 1045, but Malcolms grandfather Crínán of Dunkeld was killed in the attempt, soon after the death of Duncan his two young sons were sent away for greater safety—exactly where is the subject of debate. According to one version, Malcolm was sent to England, based on Forduns account, it was assumed that Malcolm passed most of Macbeths seventeen-year reign in the Kingdom of England at the court of Edward the Confessor. An English invasion in 1054, with Siward, Earl of Northumbria in command, had as its goal the installation of one Máel Coluim and this Máel Coluim has traditionally been identified with the later Malcolm III. This interpretation derives from the Chronicle attributed to the 14th-century chronicler of Scotland, John of Fordun, the latter reported that Macbeth was killed in the battle by Siward, but it is known that Macbeth outlived Siward by two years. A. A. M. Duncan argued in 2002 that, using the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry as their source, Duncans argument has been supported by several subsequent historians specialising in the era, such as Richard Oram, Dauvit Broun and Alex Woolf. It has also suggested that Máel Coluim may have been a son of Owain Foel, British king of Strathclyde perhaps by a daughter of Malcolm II. In 1057 various chroniclers report the death of Macbeth at Malcolms hand, Macbeth was succeeded by his stepson Lulach, who was crowned at Scone, probably on 8 September 1057. Lulach was killed by Malcolm, by treachery, near Huntly on 23 April 1058, after this, Malcolm became king, perhaps being inaugurated on 25 April 1058, although only John of Fordun reports this. If he did visit the English court, he was the first reigning king of Scots to do so in more than eighty years. If a marriage agreement was made in 1059, it was not kept, equally, Malcolms raids in Northumbria may have been related to the disputed Kingdom of the Cumbrians, reestablished by Earl Siward in 1054, which was under Malcolms control by 1070. The Orkneyinga saga reports that Malcolm married the widow of Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Ingibiorg, although Ingibiorg is generally assumed to have died shortly before 1070, it is possible that she died much earlier, around 1058. The Orkneyinga Saga records that Malcolm and Ingibiorg had a son, Duncan II, Malcolms son Domnall, whose death is reported in 1085, is not mentioned by the author of the Orkneyinga Saga
9.
David II of Scotland
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David II was King of Scots from 1329 until his death, and the last male of the House of Bruce. Although David spent long periods in exile or captivity, he managed to resist English attempts to annex his kingdom, David II was the elder and only surviving son of Robert I of Scotland and his second wife, Elizabeth de Burgh. He was born on 5 March 1324 at Dunfermline Abbey, Fife, in accordance with the Treaty of Northamptons terms, David was married on 17 July 1328 to Joan of the Tower, daughter of Edward II of England and Isabella of France, at Berwick-upon-Tweed. David became King of Scots upon the death of his father on 7 June 1329, aged 5 years,3 months, David and his wife were crowned at Scone on 24 November 1331. During Davids minority, Sir Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray was appointed Guardian of Scotland by the Act of Settlement of 1318. After Morays death, on 20 July 1332, he was replaced by Donald, Earl of Mar, only ten days later Mar fell at the Battle of Dupplin Moor. Sir Andrew Murray of Bothwell, who was married to Christian and he was taken prisoner by the English at Roxburgh in April 1333 and was thence replaced as Guardian by Archibald Douglas, who fell at Halidon Hill that July. By December, however, Balliol was forced to flee to England, following the victory of this force at the Battle of Halidon Hill in July 1333, David and his wife were sent for safety into France, reaching Boulogne on 14 May 1334. They were received graciously by King Philip VI. In 1346, under the terms of the Auld Alliance, David invaded England in the interests of the French, after initial success at Hexham, David was wounded, and his army soundly defeated at the Battle of Nevilles Cross on 17 October 1346. David was captured and taken prisoner by Sir John de Coupland, David was transferred to Windsor Castle in Berkshire upon the return of Edward III from France. The depiction of David being presented to King Edward III in the play The Reign of King Edward the Third is fictitious, David and his household were later moved to Odiham Castle in Hampshire. His imprisonment was not reputed a rigorous one, although he remained in England for eleven years and this was ratified by the Scottish Parliament at Scone on 6 November 1357. David returned at once to Scotland, but, after a few years, owing to the poverty of the kingdom, it was found impossible to raise the ransom installment of 1363. David then made for London and sought to get rid of the liability by offering to bequeath Scotland to Edward III or one of his sons in return for a cancellation of the ransom, David did this with the full awareness that the Scots would never accept such an arrangement. He remarried about 20 February 1364, Margaret Drummond, widow of Sir John Logie and he divorced her about 20 March 1370. Margaret, however, travelled to Avignon and made an appeal to the Pope to reverse the sentence of divorce which had been pronounced against her in Scotland. She was still alive in January 1375, from 1364, David governed with vigour, dealing firmly with recalcitrant nobles and wider baronial revolt, and continued to pursue the goal of final peace with England
10.
James I of Scotland
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James I, King of Scotland from 1406, was the son of King Robert III and Annabella Drummond. He was the last of three sons, although parliament exonerated Albany, fears for Jamess safety grew during the winter of 1405–1406 and plans were made to send him to France. He remained there until mid-March, when he boarded a vessel bound for France, 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. The Scottish Kings cousin, Murdoch Stewart, Albanys son, a captive in England since 1402, was traded for Henry Percy, 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, 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 children by his consort. The King had a desire to impose law and order on his subjects. 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 hostages held in England was ignored. In August 1436, James failed humiliatingly in his siege of the English-held Roxburgh Castle, 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 reunited with her son James II in Edinburgh Castle. James was probably born in late July 1394 at Dunfermline Abbey,27 years after the marriage of his parents Robert III and it was also at Dunfermline under his mothers care that James would have spent most of his early childhood. Prince James, now heir to the throne, was the only impediment to the transfer of the line to the Albany Stewarts. In 1402 Albany and his close Black Douglas ally Archibald, 4th Earl of Douglas were absolved of any involvement in Rothesays death clearing the way for Albanys re-appointed as the kings lieutenant, Albany rewarded Douglas for his support by allowing him to resume hostilities in England. These included Douglas himself, Albanys son Murdoch, and the earls of Moray, Angus and 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 men who had not previously been conspicuously politically active
11.
James IV of Scotland
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James IV was the King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death. He assumed the following the death of his father, James III, after the Battle of Sauchieburn. James was the son of James III and Margaret of Denmark, as heir apparent to the Scottish crown, he became Duke of Rothesay. In 1474, his father arranged his betrothal to Princess Cecily of England and his father was not a popular king and faced two major rebellions during his reign. James IIIs army rebelled against him and the English army reached Edinburgh, during the second rebellion, the rebels set up the 15-year-old James as their nominal leader. They fought James III at the Battle of Sauchieburn on 11 June 1488, the younger James took the throne and was crowned at Scone on 24 June. When he realised the role which he had played in the death of his father. From that date on, he wore an iron chain cilice around his waist, next to the skin, each Lent as penance. James IV quickly proved an effective ruler and a wise king and he defeated another rebellion in 1489, took a direct interest in the administration of justice and finally brought the Lord of the Isles under control in 1493. For a time, he supported Perkin Warbeck, pretender to the English throne, then, in August 1497, James laid siege to Norham Castle, using his grandfathers bombard Mons Meg. First he ratified the Treaty of Ayton in February 1498, then, in 1502 James signed the Treaty of Perpetual Peace with Henry VII. He also maintained his relations with France, with rumours that James would renew the Auld alliance, in April 1508 Thomas Wolsey was sent to discuss Henry VIIs concerns over this. Wolsey found there was never a man worse welcome into Scotland than I. they keep their matters so secret here that the wives in the market know every cause of my coming, James saw the importance of building a fleet that could provide Scotland with a strong maritime presence. James founded two new dockyards for this purpose and acquired a total of 38 ships for the Royal Scots Navy, including the Margaret, and the carrack Michael or Great Michael. The latter, built at great expense at Newhaven and launched in 1511, was 240 feet in length, weighed 1,000 tons and was, at that time, James IV was a true Renaissance prince with an interest in practical and scientific matters. He built a part of Falkland Palace, and Great Halls at Stirling and Edinburgh castles, figures associated with his court include William Dunbar, Walter Kennedy and Gavin Douglas, who made the first complete translation of Virgils Aeneid in northern Europe. His reign also saw the passing of the makar Robert Henryson and he patronised music at Restalrig using rental money from the Kings Wark. James was well educated and a fluent polyglot, in July 1498 the Spanish envoy Pedro de Ayala reported to Ferdinand and Isabella that The King is 25 years and some months old
12.
James VI and I
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James VI and I was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until his death. The kingdoms of Scotland and England were individual sovereign states, with their own parliaments, judiciary, and laws, though both were ruled by James in personal union. James was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, James succeeded to the Scottish throne at the age of thirteen months, after his mother Mary was compelled to abdicate in his favour. Four different regents governed during his minority, which ended officially in 1578, in 1603, he succeeded the last Tudor monarch of England and Ireland, Elizabeth I, who died without issue. He continued to reign in all three kingdoms for 22 years, a period known after him as the Jacobean era, until his death in 1625 at the age of 58. After the Union of the Crowns, he based himself in England from 1603, only returning to Scotland once in 1617 and he was a major advocate of a single parliament for England and Scotland. In his reign, the Plantation of Ulster and British colonization of the Americas began, at 57 years and 246 days, Jamess reign in Scotland was longer than those of any of his predecessors. He achieved most of his aims in Scotland but faced difficulties in England, including the Gunpowder Plot in 1605. James himself was a scholar, the author of works such as Daemonologie, The True Law of Free Monarchies. He sponsored the translation of the Bible that would later be named after him, Sir Anthony Weldon claimed that James had been termed the wisest fool in Christendom, an epithet associated with his character ever since. Since the latter half of the 20th century, historians have tended to revise Jamess reputation and treat him as a serious, James was the only son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Both Mary and Darnley were great-grandchildren of Henry VII of England through Margaret Tudor, Marys rule over Scotland was insecure, and she and her husband, being Roman Catholics, faced a rebellion by Protestant noblemen. James was born on 19 June 1566 at Edinburgh Castle, and as the eldest son and heir apparent of the monarch automatically became Duke of Rothesay and Prince and he was baptised Charles James or James Charles on 17 December 1566 in a Catholic ceremony held at Stirling Castle. His godparents were Charles IX of France, Elizabeth I of England, Mary refused to let the Archbishop of St Andrews, whom she referred to as a pocky priest, spit in the childs mouth, as was then the custom. The subsequent entertainment, devised by Frenchman Bastian Pagez, featured men dressed as satyrs and sporting tails, Jamess father, Darnley, was murdered on 10 February 1567 at Kirk o Field, Edinburgh, perhaps in revenge for Rizzios death. James inherited his fathers titles of Duke of Albany and Earl of Ross, Mary was already unpopular, and her marriage on 15 May 1567 to James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, who was widely suspected of murdering Darnley, heightened widespread bad feeling towards her. In June 1567, Protestant rebels arrested Mary and imprisoned her in Loch Leven Castle and she was forced to abdicate on 24 July 1567 in favour of the infant James and to appoint her illegitimate half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray, as regent. The care of James was entrusted to the Earl and Countess of Mar, to be conserved, nursed, and upbrought in the security of Stirling Castle
