A century separates the adult reigns of King James III and his great-great-grandson King James VI. Did anything substantial pass down the Stewart family line that might be claimed as common ground between the two men?
While researching a forthcoming book on the later king, I was reminded of the earlier James's dramatic falling out with his own nobility over his chosen circle of favourites. The standard recorded version of this dispute is that the king was thought to be too close to a group of men whom the top tier of gentry regarded as being unworthy of his attention. There is something ironic about this, at least on the surface, since the 'nobility' of Scotland in the 15th century and also in the 16th century were arguably the biggest group of cutthroat rogues who ever disgraced the nation.
Like many events from the era, the recorded version of the conflict inevitably only represents a skewed version of what actually happened. Few people remember the details now beyond the Earl of Angus being nicknamed 'Bell the Cat' after his intention of taming the principal favourite Cochrane. Cochrane of course met his end by being summarily hung at Lauder Bridge.
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| Angus arrests Robert Cochrane in 1482 |
Why were the king's chosen companions so ill-suited in the eyes of the nobles? Cochrane was a mason. Another companion, James Hommyll, wasa a tailor. Were the lords jealous of these low born men? Were they rightfully mortified that non nobles were being favoured unjustifiably over themselves? There may have been a suggestion that the king, with his dilettante preference for the arts, was unmanly and homosexual even. If so, he paid the price. But the accusation was a blackening piece of propaganda really. Other malicious rumours stated that he had a chosen whore named the Daisy. Yet another piece of gossip said he engaged in incestuous relations with his sister.
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| King James III |
The case of the nobility acting against the favourites of King James VI took a different pattern. James was barely in his mid teens when he became quite extraordinarily smitten by his French cousin Esme Stuart, whom he created Earl of Lennox. A raid escalation of preferment saw both the Protestant nobility and powerful figures within the Kirk itself becoming highly alarmed by the rise of this individual. The coming of age of the king in his personal rule was a correlated trajectory which some in Scotland were uneasy about also. Esme was distrusted for his Catholicism and the concentration of power in his hands, becoming the second person in the kingdom, though James also put great trust in the Earl of Arran. Apart from the glaring religious problem, Stuart was widely hated for his foreignness and the assumption (probably true) that he had steered the gullible monarch into homosexuality. Self interest of the nobles in wanting a share of power themselves was of course a perennial motivation for them to act.
The result of the tension was the Raid of Ruthven in 1482 when the king was essentially kidnapped and held hostage by a faction of nobility for a year. 'Better bairns greet than bearded men,' James was taunted with when he broke down when he was captured, surely a sly dig at his perceived effeminacy. Despite the setback, James indulged himself fully in the dangerous game of promoting favourites far in excess of their abilities of worth. But, notably, it was a game he only only safely able to indulge in when he became king in far off England.
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| King James VI |
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