King James II
King James II - Kings of Scotland
James II (1430 - 1460, king from 1437) was the son of James I and Joan Beaufort. Despite a long minority James II was able to advance royal authority and extend the scope of Parliament's reform of the legal system.That royal interests were not entirely ignored during the minority was due to the continued influence of James I's ministers. William Crichton and Alexander Livingstone, although they could not avoid being drawn into competitive politics. When he assumed control he had his guardian Alexander Livingstone executed. Now, as under James III, the Crown profited from the loyalty of James Kennedy, Bishop of St Andrews. James II saw his main threat to be William Douglas, Earl of Douglas; the king himself stabbed and killed the Earl at Sterling in 1452 and this violent coup was followed by savage reprisals against the Douglases and their friends. Further achievement was cut short by the King's death in 1460 at the seige of Roxburgh; from now until James IV's calamitous defeat at Flodden friction with England became, once more, a central theme of Scottish history.
Back to