James III is the most enigmatic of the Stewart kings of Scotland. Variously characterised as artistic, peace-loving, morbidly suspicious, treacherous, pious, lecherous and lazy, King James was much criticised by contemporaries and later chroniclers for his failure to do his job in the manner expected of him, and particularly for his reliance on low-born favourites to the exclusion of his 'natural' counsellors, the nobility. Specific complaints included debasement of the coinage, royal hoarding of money, failure to staunch feuds and to enforce criminal justice.

Yet James III has also been seen as a major patron of the arts, as Scotland's first Renaissance king, and as the architect of an intelligent and forward-looking foreign policy. In this new study, the author explores all these areas and seeks to explain why King James was challenged by a huge rebellion in 1482, which he narrowly survived, and why he succumbed to a further rising in 1488, which placed his eldest son on the throne as James IV.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Preface: The Enigma
• 1 ‘In Adversity Nothing Abashed’: James II, 1452–1455
• 2 Ambiguous Legacy: 1455–1460
• 3 The Queen, the Bishop and the Boyds: 1460–1466
• 4 From Adolescence to Imperial Kingship: 1466–1472
• 5 The Years of Success: 1472–1476
• 6 Sibling Rivalry and ‘Sympill Men’: The Politics of the 1470s
• 7 A Bridge Too Far? The Lauder Crisis of 1482
• 8 The Survivor: 1482–1485
• 9 Renaissance Prince? James III and the Arts
• 10 The Second Reign: 1483–1487
• 11 Prophecies Fulfilled: The Field of Stirling, 1488
• Postscript: The Legend and the King
• Map 1 The Crises of 1482–1483
• Map 2 The Civil War of 1488
• Glossary
• Sources and Bibliography
• Index
• Picture Section