494 SCOTLAND [HISTORY. rule. 1448-1466. bration of this marriage Livingstone, now chamberlain, with many of his kindred and friends, was suddenly arrested and tried before a parliament at Edinburgh ; two were exe- cuted, and the others, including the chamberlain, attainted and placed in strict ward in Dumbarton. Douglas and Crichton received part of the forfeited estates. James was chiefly advised at this period by Bishop Kennedy, whose counsel was the old one of "divide et impera." He now determined to do to the more powerful Douglas as he had done to the Livingstones. The earl had shown no modera- tion in prosperity. His revenue and retainers equalled those of the king : 1000 horsemen were his ordinary train, and he attended the king's marriage with five times that number. His courts on the borders were almost parlia- ments. In the year of jubilee (1450) he went to Rome with a large suite. On his return he visited the new king of England, Edward IV. At the parliament of Edinburgh (1451) he submitted to the king's mercy, and at the request of the queen and estates received a regrant of his lands and honours. He was already suspected of treason, and had in fact renewed a secret bond with the earls of Crawford and Ross, the most powerful nobles in the north, which threatened the royal authority. James felt a crisis had come and sum- James's moned Douglas to Stirling at Shrovetide. There the young etic king, in violation of hospitality and a safe conduct which he had given the earl, when Douglas refused to break the bond with the other earls, struck him with his knife and killed him (21st February 1452). l An appeal to arms neces- sarily followed. Douglas's brother James, the ninth earl, came to Stirling and burnt great part of the town. But the clergy and commons and other nobles, some even of Douglas's own kin, not sorry at the fall of one who over- topped them, stood by the king. Parliament sanctioned James's act and declared Douglas had deserved death. At length, after repeated struggles, Crawford was defeated at the Muir of Brechin and Douglas fled to England. His estates were of course forfeited. The lordship of Douglas was granted to Angus. Ettrick Forest and Galloway were annexed to the crown. Some years later Douglas made another desperate effort against James, but after wasting Merse was totally defeated by Angus (1458). 2 The energy of James in visiting all parts of his kingdom was con- spicuous during the last period of his reign. The good relations with the French and other Continental courts con- tinued. With England one brief interruption excepted peace had been preserved during the reign of Henry VI. Henry even agreed to restore Roxburgh and Berwick to Scotland in return for assistance against the duke of York. When Henry was taken prisoner at Northampton, his queen and her young son fled to Scotland, and James was called on to fulfil his engagements. He laid siege to Roxburgh, which for more than a century had defied his predecessors, and after a stout resistance it was taken ; but James did not live to enjoy the triumph. When inspecting the dis- charge of a new gun it burst, and he was killed (3d August 1460). He had not reached his thirtieth year. Char- His reign had been singularly fortunate, for he succeeded acter of (where his father failed) in restoring the royal authority and legisla- 8 reducin g ^ e power of the nobles. This may have been tion. 1 The origin of two great families dates from the fall of Douglas. Sir James Hamilton of Cadzow deserted his kinsman for the king and received large grants of land and the king's daughter as wife. Sir Walter Scott of Kirkurd and Buccleuch, a border chief, was similarly rewarded. These were the ancestors of the dukes of Hamilton and Buccleuch. 2 In the next reign along with the king's banished brother, Albany, he made a daring raid on Lochmaben, but being taken prisoner he ended his days as a monk at Lindores. A saying attributed to him, " If a man cannot better be, he may be a monk," was a sign of the change of times since Celtic kings were proud to assume the cowL partly due to the counsels of Kennedy, bishop of St Andrews, and Crichton; but James showed skill in govern- ment and vigour in war, though the murder of Douglas has left a stain on his character. The crown was richer at his death than it had been since the time of Alexander III., by many forfeitures secured from alienation by the Act of Annexation (1455, c. 41). The royal pre- rogative was strengthened by the first statute defining treason (1449, c. 25). Provision was made for the execu- tion of criminal justice by the king, his justiciar, and sheriffs, and of civil justice by the session. Stringent rules were laid down against violent spoliation of lands and goods (1449, c. 30). The coinage was regulated, an attempt made to preserve its standard, and to prohibit export of gold and silver (1451, c. 23). Towards the end of the reign, when war with England was impending, statutes were passed for the defence of the borders, giving the king more direct control, and declaring that the office of warden should not be hereditary. The progress of agri- culture was furthered by the famous Act for the encourage- ment of feu farm, an existing form of tenure becoming more common, and another giving fixity of tenure to leases until the expiry of their terms notwithstanding alienation of the lands. There were also many minor laws which had for their object the welfare of the people. Though the legislation of James II. was not so large, it was perhaps as important as that of James I. On the Sunday after his father's death James III. Minor (1460-88) was crowned at Kelso. A regency was formed of Jal consisting of the queen, Kennedy, and others. A parlia- III- ment followed at Edinburgh, which was blamed by the nobles for leaving so much power in the hands of a woman ; but there was a full appointment to the offices of state, and, though Mary of Guelders aimed at more than the guardianship of her son, it does not appear that she really exercised royal authority. After the defeat of Towton (29th March 1461), Henry VI. and his queen took refuge in Scotland. In return for their reception and in hope of further aid, Henry surrendered Berwick (23d April) to the Scottish king, in whose hands it remained till its final annexation to England at the close of the reign. Edward IV. retaliated by a treaty (13th February 1462) with the banished earl of Douglas, the earl of Ross, lord of the Isles, and Donald Balloch, by which Douglas was to be restored to his estates, and the whole country north of the Forth divided between the two Highland chiefs. George, earl of Angus, who had risen on the ruins of the house of Douglas, made a counter-league with Henry VI., by which he was promised an English dukedom and valuable lands between Trent and Humber, but was to preserve his alle- giance to the Scottish king. These were paper promises, and all that came of them were an ineffectual rising in the north and the relief of Alnwick, which had been besieged by the Yorkists. Next year the Lancastrian cause having received a fatal blow by the defeat of Hexham, a singular offer by Edward IV. to marry the queen dowager of Scot- land one of the many schemes of the king-maker, earl of Warwick was frustrated by her death or perhaps by the discovery of an intrigue with Adam Hepburn of Hales, whose wife was alive. Kennedy, who had the chief control of Scottish affairs, negotiated the release of Alexander, the king's brother, who had been taken by an English cruiser, and secured a truce between England and Scotland for fifteen years. He understood the nature of his countrymen better than any man, and was always ready to give counsel in parliament, while his learning, especially in the civil law, made him respected by foreign powers. When he died the country wept for him as for a parent. Before his death a plot had been formed which threw the young king into different hands. Amongst the barons
