James V suffered the fate of many a son of a famous father in being somewhat overshadowed not only by his father James IV but also by his internationally renowned daughter Mary Queen of Scots. But no-one would deny the importance of his reign, embracing as it did the establishment of the Court of Session, the birthpangs of religious dissent, and the growth of royal power to such a remarkable extent that this king could leave his kingdom for nine months in 1536-7 without fear of rebellion.

Jamie Cameron concentrates on James V's style of government and relations with his nobility, and challenges the widely held view of a vindictive and irrational king, motivated largely by greed, who antagonised most of his leading magnates and met his just deserts when they refused to support him in 1542. This book offers a different view, and presents us with a rounded picture of a king whose approach to government, in spite of some personal defects, closely resembles that of his supposedly more popular father; and, like James IV himself, retained impressive magnate support to the end of his reign.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Foreword
• Editor’s Note
• Dedication and Acknowledgements
• Conventions
• 1. ‘Ill Beloved’? James V and the Historians
• 2. The Assumption of Royal Authority
• 3. The Struggle for Power: July to November 1528
• 4. Royal Victory?
• 5. The Assertion of Royal Authority in the Borders
• 6. Poisoned Chalice? The Douglas Connection
• 7. The Major Magnates and the Absentee King
• 8. National Politics and the Executions of 1537
• 9. The Rise and Fall of Sir James Hamilton of Finnart
• 10. Daunting the Isles
• 11. Wealth and Patronage
• 12. 1542
• 13. The Final Weeks of the Reign
• 14. ‘The Most Unpleasant of all the Stewarts’?
• Appendices:
  • I: The Sources for the Reign
  • II: Charter Witnesses
  • III: Parliamentary Attendances
• Bibliography
• Index
• Picture Section