(1430-1460)

Another James in the line of Stewart Kings was born on October 16, 1430, to King James I and Joan Beaufort at Holyrood in Edinburgh, Scotland. One of a set of twins, James brother, Alexander, only lived for a few minutes. As the surviving twin, James had a rather large purplish-red birthmark which covered nearly the entire left side of his face. This gave him the name that he was later known by, James of the Fiery Face.

In February 1437, King James I was murdered in a plot to overthrow the crown. Like so many of his predecessors and descendants, the young James Stewart became the new King and was thrust into the political world at the age of six. King James II thus became the first Scottish King to be crowned someplace other than Scone since Kenneth MacAlpin in 839 AD.

Originally his mother, Joan Beaufort, was installed as co-Regent of the kingdom until the boy came of age. She shared control with the Governor of Scotland, the 5th Earl of Douglas. But the Governor was ineffective in his rule and died in 1439. Joan was removed from power when she married another James Stewart, Lord of Lorn (or the Black Knight of Lorn). The great work that James I had done in bringing peace to the land was now undone in the short span of two years.

The young King fell into a power struggle between Sir William Crichton, the Governor of Edinburgh Castle, and Sir Alexander Livingstone who was the Governor of Stirling Castle. The two men in turn increased their power by having possession of the young King. In other words, they used their position in keeping or caring for the King to influence politics. Later, Sir William Crichton and Sir Alexander Livingstone joined forces to destroy William, the sixth Earl of Douglas who was invited to Edinburgh castle and then murdered in front of the 10 year old King. These two men, Livingstone and Crichton, along with James Douglas ("James the Gross") controlled Scotland for the next nine years.

The young King married in 1449, at the age of nineteen to Marie of Gueldres, niece of Phillip "The Good", Duke of Burgundy. Emboldened by his new prowess, and probably with urging from the new Queen, James asserted his authority by removing the Livingstone family from power and by having two of it's members executed.

To a large extent, Sir William Crichton was already out of power, so the remaining threat to the throne came from the Douglas family. The son of James the Gross, William now the Eighth Earl of Douglas had vast estates in the southwest of Scotland. In 1452, King James discovered that William Douglas had entered into an alliance with the Lord of the Isles and the Earl of Crawford, and was now negotiating with England. James summoned William to Stirling Castle and revealed that he knew of the traitorous plan. An argument ensued and much like the incident in which Robert the Bruce was famous for, the King drew his dagger and stabbed William Douglas to death.

An internal war erupted in Scotland between the King and the Douglas family. The young King had an advantage however, as it seems he was fascinated with cannon and had quite a collection. These cannon were used to his great advantage and, by 1455, James removed the Douglas family from power. By 1458, James II, now 28, had restored law and order to the kingdom of Scotland.

In 1460, James II used the excuse of the York patronage and the still quite annoying ninth Earl of Douglas (he had fled to England) to attack Roxburgh Castle. James had hoped to eliminate an enemy and regain lost Scottish territory (Roxburgh had been controlled by the English for quite a few years). But it is here that his 'toys' turned against him, as a cannon, which the King had loaded with too much powder, exploded and killed him instantly.

Violence and lawlessness initially marked the rule of King James II of Scotland, but these were hardly the fault of a young boy. Later in his maturity, the King proved himself an able leader and followed wisely in his father's footsteps, restoring order to the country. His untimely death proved most unfortunate, as with a long rule this King may have changed the history of Scotland considerably.

BW, March 2000