King James II of Scotland

 James II (16 October 1430 – 3 August 1460) was King of Scots from 1437 until his death in 1460. The eldest surviving son of James I of Scotland, he succeeded to the Scottish throne at the age of six, following the assassination of his father. The first Scottish monarch not to be crowned at Scone, James II's coronation took place at Holyrood Abbey in March 1437. After a reign characterized by struggles to maintain control of his kingdom, he was killed by an exploding cannon at Roxburgh Castle in 1460. 

James was born in Holyrood Abbey. He was the son of King James I and Joan Beaufort. By his first birthday, his only brother, his older twin, Alexander, had died, thus leaving James as heir apparent with the title Duke of Rothesay. On 21 February 1437, James I was assassinated, and the six-year-old James immediately succeeded him as James II. He was crowned in Holyrood Abbey by Abbot Patrick on 23 March 1437.

On 3 July 1449, the eighteen-year-old James married the fifteen-year-old Mary of Guelders, daughter of Arnold, Duke of Guelders, and Catherine of Cleves at Holyrood Abbey. She bore him seven children, six of whom survived into adulthood. Subsequently, relations between Flanders and Scotland improved. James's nickname, Fiery Face, referred to a conspicuous vermilion birthmark on his face, which appears to have been deemed by contemporaries an outward sign of a fiery temper.

James was a politic and singularly successful king. He was popular with the commoners, with whom, like most of the Stewarts, he socialized often, in times of peace and war. His legislation has a markedly popular character. He does not appear to have inherited his father's taste for literature, which was shared by at least two of his sisters; but the foundation of the University of Glasgow during his reign by Bishop Turnbull shows that he encouraged learning; there are also traces of his endowments to St. Salvator's, the new college of Archbishop Kennedy at St Andrews. He possessed much of his father's restless energy. However, his murder of the earl of Douglas leaves a stain on his reign.

In 1449, James II reached adulthood, but he had to struggle to gain control of his kingdom. The Douglases, probably with his cooperation, used his coming of age as a way to throw the Livingstons out of the shared government, as the young king took revenge for the arrest of his mother that had taken place in 1439, and the assassination of his young Douglas cousins, in which Livingston was complicit. Douglas and Crichton continued to dominate political power and the king continued to struggle to throw off their rule. Between 1451 and 1455, he struggled to free himself from the power of the Douglases. Attempts to curb it took place in 1451, during the absence of William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas from Scotland, and culminated with the murder of Douglas at Stirling Castle on 22 February 1452.

The main account of Douglas' murder comes from the Auchinleck Chronicle, a near-contemporary but fragmentary source. According to its account, the king accused the Earl (probably with justification) of forging links with John Macdonald, 11th Earl of Ross (also Lord of the Isles) and Alexander Lindsay, 4th Earl of Crawford. This bond, if it existed, created a dangerous axis of power of independently minded men, forming a major rival to royal authority. When Douglas refused to break the bond with Ross, James broke into a fit of temper, stabbed Douglas 26 times and threw his body out of a window. His court officials (many of whom would rise to great influence in later years, often in former Douglas lands) then joined in the bloodbath, one allegedly striking out the earl's brain with an axe.

This murder did not end the power of the Douglases, but rather created a state of intermittent civil war between 1452 and 1455. The main engagements were at Brodick, on the Isle of Arran; Inverkip in Renfrew; and the Battle of Arkinholm. James attempted to seize Douglas lands, but his opponents repeatedly forced him into humiliating climbdowns, whereby he returned the lands to James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas, and a brief and uneasy peace ensued.

Military campaigns ended indecisively, and some have argued that James stood in serious danger of being overthrown, or of having to flee the country. But James's patronage of lands, titles and office to allies of the Douglases saw their erstwhile allies begin to change sides, most importantly the Earl of Crawford after the Battle of Brechin, and in May 1455, James struck a decisive blow against the Douglases, and they were finally defeated at the Battle of Arkinholm.

In the months that followed, the Parliament of Scotland declared the extensive Douglas lands forfeit and permanently annexed them to the crown, along with many other lands, finances and castles. The earl fled into a long English exile. James finally had the freedom to govern as he wished, and one can argue that his successors as kings of Scots never faced such a powerful challenge to their authority again. Along with the forfeiture of the Albany Stewarts in the reign of James I, the destruction of the Black Douglases saw royal power in Scotland take a major step forward.