The Clash of Swords and the Clash of Ideas (Part I). James I and the inaugural steps toward the Scottish Renaissance. Dr. Ray Scott Percival. Behind the clashing of swords and the blood-drenched fields of war, the intrigues, conspiracies, seizures of power and the rise and fall of empires, lies another deeper story: the…
A Queen Unleashed Consolidating Power for A Child King Dr Lucy Dean Centre for History, University of the Highlands and Islands. The murder of James I in February 1437 sent shock waves around Scotland. Unpopular though he might have become to many, he was also at the peak of power. He built a palace…
The Fall of the Albany Stewarts Part 1 Opening Gambits. Professor Richard Oram. As Lucy highlighted in her blog, Murdac Stewart’s surrender of his seal of office as Governor of Scotland into his cousin James’s hands at Melrose Abbey was a ceremonial marking of the transfer of power in the kingdom from the Duke…
The Fall of the Albany Stewarts Part 2 White King Takes Black King’s Rook. Professor Richard Oram. With his political ducks all lined up – Duke Murdac inactive if not actively complicit, and Earl Walter bought – James returned to Edinburgh confident that he could set in motion his scheme to remove all residual…
The Fall of the Albany Stewarts (Part 3) Checkmate. Professor Richard Oram. In [1425] on 13 March the king held his second parliament at Perth, and on the ninth day he arranged the arrest of Sir Murdoch [Murdac] duke of Albany, earl of Fife and Menteith, and also of Sir Alexander Stewart, the duke’s…
The Fall of the Albany Stewarts (Part 4) Clearing Away the Pieces. Professor Richard Oram. At the end of March 1425, James could look across the chessboard of his great game for mastery of Scotland with some satisfaction. The Black King and Queen, Duke Murdac and Duchess Isabella were in his hands, their castles…