February 20th 1437

Murder of James 1st in Perth

From the age of twelve until he was thirty, James 1st of Scotland was a prisoner of the English court. Throughout this time Scotland was governed, firstly by the Duke of Albany and later by his son Murdoch. Government during this period was weak with effective power very much in the hands of the great nobles; so that when James finally returned to Scotland there was much work to be done to stamp his authority on the country.

He proved himself equal to the task and for the next thirteen years with a mixture of ruthlessness and acquisitiveness he diminished the power of the nobles and increased the income of the crown. Taxes were levied, ostensibly to pay for the ransom which had been agreed for his release from England. Little of the money ever went south but went instead to the Scottish exchequer.

James showed himself to be a vigorous but not over scrupulous monarch and inevitably made enemies, among them Sir Robert Graham and the Earl of Atholl who represented another possible royal line should James and his son be removed.

The King was staying at Perth in the Dominican Monastery over the Christmas of 1436 and was still there the following February. Around midnight on February 20th, the conspirators entered the monastery where traitors had earlier bridged the moat with planks and removed the bars from the doors. They made for the King’s quarters but, legend has it, were held up for a few moments by Catherine Douglas, the Queen’s lady in waiting, who thrust her arm through the staples of the door of the King’s apartment.

This brief respite allowed the King to open up the floor boards and jump down to an underground vault. From here he should have been able to escape but he had recently caused the exit to be walled up because his tennis balls were sometimes lost there. Even so his presence was still hidden from the conspirators who went searching for him in other parts of the monastery. Foolishly he later attempted to return to his room and was discovered by the conspirators and stabbed to death. His body was buried in the Charterhouse Monastery in Perth.

A month later his six year old son was crowned James 2nd at Holyrood. The murder achieved little. The conspirators, notably Sir Robert Graham and the Earl of Atholl, were arrested without difficulty and later put to death with great cruelty and ferocity.