Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 5.djvu/132

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JAMES I.


bert Montgomery as archbishop of Glasgow. He appears to have been a member of the General Assembly in 1590 ; he is mentioned in 1593, as a minister within the bounds of the presbytery of Paisley, and must have died in 1596, as appears from the Testament Testamentar of "Euphame Wylie, relict of umquhill Mr Thomas Jak, min r ' at Eastwod."

JAMES I., king of Scots, and illustrious both in political and literary history, was born at Dunfermline in the year 1394. He was the third son of Robert III., king of Scots, (whose father, Robert II., was the first sovereign of the Stuart family,) by his consort Annabella, or Annaple Drummond, daughter of Sir John Drummond of Stobhall, ancestor of the noble family of Perth. It appears that John Stuart, for such was the real name of Robert III., had married Annapie Drummond at a period antecedent to the year 1358 ; as in 1357, he and his wife received a charter of the earldom of Athol from David II. The unusual period of thirty-seven years at least, must thus have elapsed between the marriage of the parents and the birth of their distinguished son. Their eldest child, David, born in 1373, and created duke of Rothesay, was starved to death by his uncle the duke of Albany in 1402 ; a second son, John, died in infancy. The inheritance of the crown was thus opened upon prince James at the age of eight years, but under circumstances which rendered the prospect less agreeable than dangerous. The imbecility of Robert III. had permitted the reins of government to be assumed by his brother the duke of Albany, who meditated a transference of the sovereignty to his own family, and scrupled at no measures which might promise to aid him in his object. There was the greatest reason to apprehend that prince James, as well as his elder brother the duke of Rothesay, would be removed by some foul means, through the machinations of Albany; after which, the existence of the king's female children would present but a trifling obstacle to his assuming the rights of heir presumptive.

The education of prince James was early confided to Wardlaw, bishop of St Andrews, the learned and excellent prelate, who, in founding the university in his metropolitan city, became the originator of that valuable class of institutions in Scotland. Sinclair, earl of Orkney, and Sir David Fleming of Cumbernauld, were among the barons who superintended the instruction of the prince in martial and athletic exercises. For the express purpose of saving him from the fangs of his uncle, it was resolved by the king, in 1405, to send him to the court of Charles VI. of France, where he might at once be safer in person, and receive a superior education to what could be obtained in his own country. With this view the young prince was privately conducted to East Lothian, and embarked on board a vessel at the isle of the Bass, along with the earl of Orkney and a small party of friends. It would appear that he thus escaped his uncle by a very narrow chance, as Sir David Fleming, in returning from the place of embarkation, was set upon at Long-Hermandstone by the retainers of that wicked personage, and cruelly slain.

James pursued his voyage towards France, till, cruising along the coast of Norfolk, his vessel was seized by a squadron of armed merchantmen, commanded by John Jolyff, and belonging to the port of Clay. Though this event took place in the time of a truce between the two countries, (April 12, 1405,) Henry IV. of England reconciled his conscience to the detention of the prince, for which, indeed, it is highly probable he had made some arrangements previously with the duke of Albany, his faithful ally, and the imitator of his conduct When the earl of Orkney presented a remonstrance against such an unjustifiable act, asserting that the education of the prince was the sole object of his voyage to France, he turned it off with a jest, to the effect, that he was as well acquainted with the French language, and could teach it as well as the king of