ames V (1513-42), king of Scotland, the son of James IV. For many years after Flodden the rival English and French parties struggled for supremacy in Scotland. In 1528 James escaped from the custody of the Earl of Angus, overthrew the influence of the Douglases, and established some sort of order in the Highlands and islands. It only required the outbreak of war between England and France in 1542 to bring about hostilities between England and Scotland. The rout of a Scottish force at Selway Moss in 1542 so overwhelmed James with shame and grief that he died in December of the same year, leaving a daughter only seven weeks old, afterward Mary Queen of Scots. [World Wide Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1935]

Notes on King James V of Scotland
Crowned as an infant at Stirling on 21 Sep 1513; the Queen-Dowager appointed Regent. James spent his childhood under the control of various rival factions. He had begun to harass England during his Father’s and brother’s reigns. He banished the Douglases, punished the Border reivers and chastised the insurgent Highlanders. He was a friend of the common people. He remained a staunch Catholic against the growing pressures of the reformed faith, relying on the power of the clergy to reduce the exorbitant power of the nobles. Henry VII of England tried to persuade James to join him in his resistance to papal authority. But James refused an inviation to meet Henry at York in 1541. That refusal and other causes offence justified Henry’s invasion of Scotland in 1542. James had difficulty in raising an army since the nobles opposed war with England. Eventually the Scots army disputing its command structure at Solway Moss was attacked by a body of English Borderers and routed, many being taken prisoner. James, discomfited by this shame retired to Falkland Place and attacked by a slow fever, died some seven days after the birth of his ill-fated daughter, Mary. {Burke’s Peerage and Chamber’s Biographical Dictionary} [GADD.GED]

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