1406-1449
by Gwen Sinclair
Referencing the archeological studies which took place at Dundonald Castle in the 1980s and 90s1, The Chronicles of Castle Hill continues as we explore the story of the life of its owner for the most part of the period between 1406 and 1449 – King James I (1406-37). Evidence shows that it is likely that King James I, and his son James II, used Dundonald Castle, as there were signs of life and records of its upkeep.
Less than 2 weeks into his captivity in England in 1406, James (1394-1437) discovered that his father, King Robert III (1337-1406) had died. Now, not only an orphan at the age of only 12, but as heir to Scotland’s throne, James was now its king, in exile.
We might never know if King Robert III’s younger brother Robert, Duke of Albany (1340-1420), responsible for the death of James’ older brother, David (1378-1402), had also played a foul hand in the capture of young James. But, nevertheless, the Scottish Parliament appointed Duke Robert to be Governor and Regent of Scotland to essentially rule in his nephew’s absence. This meant that it was his job to negotiate for James’ release. Meanwhile Murdac Stewart, who was Duke Robert’s son and heir was already being held as a prisoner under King Henry IV of England (1398-1413) since his capture at the battle of Homildon Hill in 1402. The cousins were held as separate captives, and only reunited in 1415 for a short time until Murdac was released in May that year after 12 years of captivity. This happened as a prisoner exchange negotiated by his father, and yet as Murdac was escorted north, travelling through Yorkshire, Murdac was “feloniously abducted” by a band led by Sir Thomas Talbot, an outlawed Lollard knight from Easington in Craven and later rescued by Ralph Pudsey, also from Craven. Not only does Murdac’s release mark the time when Duke Robert ceased any attempts for James’ release, but the name of Murdac’s felonious abductor, may shed light on an age-old mystery which follows later in the story…
Indeed, as a captive in England, it was expected that his home nation would provide financially for his upkeep and education, and but as it was, Henry’s French prisoners apparently provided financially for James, if Duke Robert’s government did not. James was moved between various English royal castles such as Windsor, Kenilworth and Nottingham, but after the death of Henry IV in 1413, and on the very day of the coronation of his son, Henry V (1413-1422), James was kept in the Tower of London. James became a personal puppet of Henry V to be paraded within his entourage in order to show the reach of English power to help boost his military campaigns in France, and on St George’s Day 1421 James was further subjugated, by being ’knighted’ by the English king. It was only after dysentery took Henry V whilst laying siege to the French city of Meaux in 1422, and his 9 month-old Henry VI (1422-61) succeeded his father, that things began to improve for King James.
Meanwhile back home in Scotland, Robert Duke of Albany died In 1420, and so Murdac took over the role as Duke of Albany and Governor and Regent of Scotland. Three years later, Murdac’s younger brother by another mother, John Stewart, Earl of Buchan and Ross (c1380-1424) led an embassy to the English court to, amongst other things, negotiate for James’ release. And by 4th December 1423 The Treaty of London was agreed where 60,000 marks would be paid to England ‘to cover the costs of James captivity’, and as surety that Scotland would pay it all, instalments of 10,000 marks per year were assured by holding hostages with equivalent fortune in the Tower until that time. One of these hostages was James’ nephew, Sir John Kennedy of Dunure and Cassilis of Carrick (1407-34), son of Sir James Kennedy of Dunure (1376-1408) and King James’s older sister, Princess Mary (1380–1458). Mystery surrounds Sir John’s later life, as on his eventual return to Scotland, it seems he fell out of favour with the King, and was kept within close scrutiny at Stirling Castle, and only mentioned within its Chamberlain Rolls until 1434 after which we hear nothing more.
Robert Duke of Albany seal
Meanwhile, as further terms of his release, James was made to marry an English noble woman. And so in February 1424, James married Lady Joan Beaufort (1404-45), daughter of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, a close relative of King Henry VI. James had seen Joan in the garden beneath his prison window in the early 1320s, and she had inspired to him such words as ‘Beauty, fair enough to make the world to dote, Are ye a worldy creature?’ – as lines for his epic poem The Kingis Quair. Their marriage was regarded as one of greatest love stories of medieval times, made all the sweeter perhaps that Jean’s ample dowry paid one sixth of James’ ransom. And so it was, finally after 18 years in exile, on 21st May 1424, 30 year old James, and his beloved Lady Joan, were crowned together at Scone.
Now, all that remained was for James to take up the lion rampant banner of his father, and to ask his cousin, and one time cell-mate, Murdac, to step aside. However, as a young man of solid build and medium height, with a great love of athletics, of wrestling, of music, and of archery, James did not begin his reign with celebration, or pleasure. Indeed not. For it seems that he was wracked with the desire for recrimination for the death of his brother David, and simmered a heavy resentment not only for his 18 years of captivity, but that neither Duke Robert nor his successor Murdac made much attempt to have him freed from a captivity made more unpleasant due to his forced impoverishment. Also, without an heir himself, the Albany Stewarts stood the most likely to inherit James’ throne, and that would no doubt fall to ageing Murdac’s eldest son, Walter Stewart of Lennox,(c1394-1425) who had himself shown open hostility to the idea of bringing James home…
And so, one week before his coronation James invited Walter to parlay at Edinburgh Castle. There James had Walter arrested and taken to the castle at Bass Rock, presumably to avoid any daring rescue attempt, or be named as any successor at the forthcoming coronation. Walter’s grandfather Duncan, Earl of Lennox (1385–1425), and his supporter, Sir Robert Graham were next to be arrested.
Meanwhile James travelled to his Stewart lands in Ayrshire, where control of his lands had been taken by the Albany Stewarts, despite complaints by locals who had been appointed as deputies to act on behalf of the king in exile. Duke Murdac had even taken on the title of High Steward of Scotland, despite this belonging to James. Furthermore, lesser nobles had begun establishing increased power within James’ lands. And so, probably staying at Dundonald Castle in October 1424, James met with local landowners in Ayr. There he also met with his uncle, known as John Stewart of Dundonald, or the Red Stewart, perhaps due to the colour of his hair. Documents dated 1407 and 1415 mention John Stewart of Dundonald. as a brother of King Robert III and Robert Duke of Albany, and whose mother was an unknown mistress of James’ grandfather King Robert II (1371-90). James had had his uncle John knighted at the time of his coronation, and now John was tasked with recovering Dumbarton Castle, which had been held by Walter Stewart of Lennox – which he promptly achieved by 11th November.
Dumbarton Castle
Now all that was left for James, was to seal the Albany Stewart’s fate. And so parliament at Perth in March 1425, agreed a statute that prohibited rebellion against the king, essentially assuring Walter, Duncan and Robert Graham would stand trial for rebellion. When Murdac argued against this, he and his son Alexander, as well as John de Montgomery, who had been a chief agent for the Albany Stewarts on James’ lands in Cunningham in Ayrshire, were arrested. James then took Murdac’s strongholds of Falkland Palace and Doune Castle, and captured Murdac’s wife Isabella, the daughter of Duncan, the Earl of Lennox. Meanwhile, Murdac’s remaining son, James, fled and 5 weeks later attacked Dumbarton, where Sir John the Red Stewart of Dundonald was killed whilst defending the castle.
At Stirling Castle, another of the Albany strongholds which James had recovered, the King sat in judgement at the trial of Walter Stewart on 24th May. He was found guilty of treason, and beheaded in front of the castle, possibly at the traditional spot for this purpose named Heading Hill. Murdac, Alexander and Duncan met the same end the following day. Murdac’s wife Isabella, was held captive for 8 years at Stirling Castle and/or Tantallon Castle, and where legend goes, the severed heads of her husband, father and two sons were placed in confinement alongside her all that time as a final act of revenge. As for her last son James, he escaped to Ireland but before he died in 1429, he attempted, but failed to muster enough support to bring down the king. His son, James Beag Stewart, later returned home to Scotland, where his descendants became the Stewarts of Balquhidder.
Perhaps James enjoyed some peaceful times at Dundonald Castle, as records of his visits there continue until 1430s. He also authorised the sum of £16.13s.4d. to be paid to Fergus Kennedy for repairs to the king’s castle at Dundonald and its park in the period May 1433-June 1434. Furthermore, accounts by Thomas Kennedy, bailiff of the royal estates in Carrick and elsewhere, including Dundonald Castle, from this period note payments towards its upkeep. Records of those living there show the Castle’s gatekeeper and its two watchmen, to which an annual payment was made of £3, with £2 paid to those who mowed the meadow of Dundonald and made the hay, presumably for the king’s horses, whose stable hands received a total of £1.1s.9d. 13d. One merk ‘from the lands of Holme’ was dispensed as traditional alms for the chaplain at St Ninian’s chapel, which is thought to have been located somewhere near Dundonald Castle. For the upkeep the royal park of Dundonald £1.6s.8d was paid, and all of which was deducted from the total annual income of £47.17s.8d. – a figure which was to remain consistent for the next 50 years.
Celebration arrived on 16th October 1430 when Queen Joan gave birth to twin boys, Alexander and James. Sadly Alexander died in infancy, but James, born with a birthmark which gave him the nickname, ‘James the Fiery Face’ brought the king an heir for his throne. However, not long for this world, Scotlands’s king evoked another tale, this time a cautionary one – of the true folly of revenge. As a victim of regicide, perhaps considered the most heinous of medieval crimes, as after all, a King was chosen by God, and so this was a crime against God himself: shortly after midnight on 21st February 1437 at the king’s lodgings at Blackfriars Monastery, which lay outside the city walls at Perth, King James’ death was delivered by the hand of nine assassins. The first to die was his Page, whose cries alerted the king, allowing him time to escape below the floor into a sewage pipe running beneath. There he became trapped due to his own decision to have metal grills placed across the pipe to stop his tennis balls getting lost in there, and so James was bludgeoned to death. The injured Queen Joan fled the scene, but later made sure that the suspects, the only surviving legitimate son of King Robert II, Walter, Earl of Atholl (c1360-1437), once an advocate for the return of King James from exile, now apparently after the throne for himself, his son Robert Stewart, and Sir Robert Graham were captured, with others, and all ferociously executed.
To this day, the site of Blackfriars Monastery in Perth, dating back to the 1200s, now The King James pub, has a section of the floor left uncovered in order to show the spot where King James I was murdered.
On 25th March 1437, 6 year old James II (1437-60) was the first Scottish king to be crowned at Holyrood Abbey, since Scone was too close to Perth, and deemed too unsafe now to visit. James II now also became the owner of Dundonald Castle, and so far, its youngest.
Over the following years James II’s mother, Joan, became increasingly side-lined as acting regent on his behalf, and was said to have become imprisoned, possibly for her own safety, at Dunbar Castle. There she died on 15th July 1445 whilst the castle was under siege, making James an orphan at the age of 15.
As the curtain closes on this grisly chapter in the Chronicles of Castle Hill, an uplifting backstory concludes it; as revealed within excavations of the gatehouse towers, together with a long rounded blade, a fascinating collection of what are thought to be roof slates were uncovered. These had been inscribed with illustrations that are thought to date to this time. Indicating that tradesman were involved in building work at Dundonald Castle, some show rough building plans, another shows a gaming board, one had an insignia with the initials IHS, another with a picture of a bow and arrow, and one with the name Talbot etched on it.(could this be connected to the outlawed Lollard knight from Easington from earlier in the story?🤔)
Another intriguing illustration shows 2 figures carrying double-handed swords, where their angled cross guard bars or quillons are of a type generally dating to the15th century (shown below), around the time of either King James I or II, further evidenced by another slate faintly etched with the word Jacobus – which means James in Latin.
Find out how Dundonald Castle continued to be owned by the Stewart Monarchs for around the next 100 years, and what happened next in chapter 8 of The Chronicles of Castle Hill…
#Yearofstories. #Talesofscotland #YS22
Sources
1Dundonald Castle Excavations 1986—93
Author(s): Gordon Ewart, Denys Pringle, David Caldwell, Ewan Campbell, Stephen Driscoll, Katherine Forsyth, Dennis Gallagher, Tim Holden, Fraser Hunter, David Sanderson and Jennifer Thoms
Source: Scottish Archaeological Journal, Vol. 26, No. 1/2, DUNDONALD CASTLE EXCAVATIONS 1986—93 (2004), pp. i-x, 1-166
Published by: Edinburgh University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27917525
Boardman S. The Early Stewart Kings: Robert II and Robert III 1371-1406. 2007. John Donald Publishing
Prebble J, The Lion in the North:one thousand years of Scotland’s History. 1974. Book Club Associates
Brown, M. The Stewart Dynasty in Scotland: James I. 1994. Canongate Press Ltd.
Robertson, W. Ayrshire, Its History and Historic Families. Volume II. Dunlop and Drennan Standard Office, Kilmarnock. Stephen and Pollock Ayr. 1908
https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/henry-vs-scottish-protege/
https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/s/robertstewartalbany.html
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44442/the-kings-quire
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-henry-v-englands-warrior-king-180973432/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/25517064
https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/i/alexanderofislay.html
https://historytheinterestingbits.com/tag/joan-beaufort/
https://stewartsofbalquhidder.com/stewart-families/stewart-origins/albany-stewarts/
Images
Cover Image by Gwen Sinclair for FoDC
Timeline by Gwen Sinclair for FoDC
James I oil on panel painting from Scottish National Portrait Gallery By unidentified painter – NationalGalleries.org, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5981872
James II oil on panel painting by unknown artist c 17th century from Scottish National Portrait Gallery. By Unknown author – NationalGalleries.org, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10573261
Tower of London images by Gwen Sinclair
https://erenow.net/ww/agincourt-henry-v/5.php
The Battle of Agincourt image by Antoine Leduc, Sylvie Leluc et Olivier Renaudeau (dir.), D’Azincourt à Marignan. Chevaliers et bombardes, 1415-1515, Paris, Gallimard / Musée de l’armée, 2015, p. 18-19, ISBN 978-2-07-014949-0, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10026708
Robert, Duke of Albany seal by Anonymous – Walter de Gray Birch, History of Scottish Seals from the Eleventh to the Seventeenth Century: With Upwards of Two Hundred Illustrations Derived from the Finest and Most Interesting Examples Extant. Volume 1, 1905, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3407525
King James and Queen Joan By uploaded by Braganza18 on 2007 Feb17 – en:Image:JoanBeaufortandJames.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5023547
Dumbarton Castle By Rosser1954 – Roger Griffith – John Stoddart. Scenery & Manners in Scotland., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3749575
Falkland Palace By Stephencdickson – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=95677874
The Murder of King James I By Jan Luyken – Collectie Nederland, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64572768
Holyrood Abbey By LASZLO ILYES from Cleveland, Ohio, USA – Flickr, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=732696
Images Dunbar Castle by Gwen Sinclair
Dundonald Castle by Chris Russell
Image of Stirling Castle by CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=228704
Image of slate illustration at Dundonald Castle Museum by Lauren Brown
