Jacob III (Scotland)
Jacob III ( English James III ; * July 10, 1451 ; † June 11, 1488 near Sauchieburn ) was King of Scotland from 1460 until his death . He was the eldest son of Jacob II and his wife Maria von Geldern .
Regency
Like his father, Jacob III was also. underage when he ascended the Scottish throne. He was crowned on August 10, 1460, a week after his father's death, at Kelso Abbey in Roxburghshire .
During his childhood three factions took over the reigns one after the other: from 1460 to 1463 the mother of the king, Maria von Geldern - under the Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1461 temporarily came back under Scottish suzerainty -, then from 1463 to 1466 James Kennedy , Bishop of St Andrews, and Gilbert, Lord Kennedy , and finally, from 1466 to 1469, Robert, Lord Boyd .
In 1469, after reaching the age of majority , he married Margaret of Denmark , the daughter of the Danish King Christian I. This eliminated the Norwegian fee that Scotland had to pay annually to Denmark for sovereignty over the Outer Hebrides . As a dowry, Margaret brought the Orkneys and the Shetland Islands into the marriage, which had been in Scandinavian hands since the occupation by the Vikings . Jacob incorporated these islands into his kingdom in 1470.
Conflicts
Overall, Jacob III. a weak and unpopular king. After the marriage, a conflict broke out between the king and the Boyd family. Alexander Boyd's family was executed in 1469. Robert Boyd (the former regent) and Thomas Boyd (who was married to Jacob's sister Mary ) were out of the country when all of their lands were confiscated. Mary's marriage was invalidated in 1473.
From 1471 to 1473, Jakob pursued unrealistic plans for territorial expansion on mainland Europe; so he proposed the conquest or annexation of Brittany , Saintonge and the Duchy of Geldern . These planned projects led to severe criticism in the Scottish Parliament , above all because the king would much rather devote himself to art and occultism than to domestic politics.
In 1474 he made an agreement with the English King Edward IV : the future King James IV was to be married to the English Princess Cecilia of York. This alliance with the archenemy England (and the taxes that were levied to finance the wedding) was one of the reasons that made the king very unpopular with the nobility.
Also during the 1470s, the king fell out with his two brothers, John, Earl of Mar , and Alexander Stewart, 1st Duke of Albany . John died under mysterious circumstances in Edinburgh in 1480, his lands were confiscated and given to Thomas Cochrane, a favorite of the king. Alexander fled to France in 1479 after being accused of high treason and of breaking the alliance with England.
War with england
In 1479 the alliance with England disintegrated and from 1480 a state of war prevailed again, albeit with temporary interruptions. In 1482 Edward IV began the invasion of Scotland. The army was led by the Duke of Gloucester (later King Richard III ) and Jacob's brother Alexander, who had ambitions to ascend the throne as Alexander IV.
When Jakob had in mind to mobilize his subjects against the invasion, he was arrested in July 1482 at Lauder Bridge by disaffected nobles. Presumably they had allied themselves with Alexander. The King was held captive at Edinburgh Castle and in the autumn of 1482 a new government under Lieutenant General Alexander took power. The English army has since returned after unsuccessfully besieging Edinburgh and running out of money to pay the soldiers. However, it finally conquered Berwick-upon-Tweed .
Jacob was able to regain power by bribing members of the interim government on his side. Alexander's attempt to claim the vacant County of Mar for himself led to the intervention of the powerful Earl of Huntly and the overthrow of the government in December 1482. In January 1483, Alexander retired to his lands near Dunbar . After the death of his patron Edward IV in April 1483, he no longer had any influence and fled to England. From there he attempted another invasion in 1484, which failed, however. In August 1485 he died in an accident in Paris .
More conflict and death
Although he could easily have been murdered or executed in 1482, Jacob did not change his behavior. He was still convinced that he could form an alliance with England, although this would not have made sense under the circumstances. He favored a group of friends who were unpopular with more powerful nobles. He refused to travel to the country to exercise judicial power and stayed in Edinburgh continuously . He became estranged from his wife Margaret of Denmark, who lived in Stirling Castle , and increasingly from his eldest son. Instead, he favored his younger son.
The domestic political quarrels reached their climax in 1488. Disappointed nobles and former advisers had raised an army to overthrow the hated king. On June 11, Jakob was killed in the Battle of Sauchieburn . His heir, the future King James IV , had also risen because his father preferred his younger brother.
The circumstances of Jacob's death were greatly exaggerated and unrealistic by the chroniclers of the 16th century. Allegedly he was murdered shortly after the Battle of Milltown near Bannockburn . Another story tells that he fell from his horse, seriously injured, and escaped to a farmhouse, where he asked for spiritual assistance. While he was making his last confession on his death bed, he is said to have been stabbed by a false priest. Most likely, however, he died on the battlefield. He was then buried in Cambuskenneth Abbey .
family
In July 1469 he married Margaret of Denmark (1456–1486), daughter of King Christian I of Denmark , in Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh and had three children with her:
- Jacob IV (March 17, 1473 - September 9, 1513)
- James, Duke of Ross (March 1476 - January 12, 1504)
- John , Earl of Mar (July 1479 - March 11, 1503)
See also
Web links
- James III Stewart, King of Scotland, on thepeerage.com , accessed July 26, 2015.
Remarks
- ^ According to Norman Macdougall ( Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Vol. 37 (2004), p. 67), Jacob III. Born at the end of May 1452
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Jacob II |
King of Scotland 1460–1488 |
Jacob IV |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Jacob III |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | King of Scotland |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 10, 1451 |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 11, 1488 |
| Place of death | at Sauchieburn |