JAMES III. (1451-1488), king of Scotland, eldest son of James II., was born on July 10, 1451. He was crowned at Kelso in 1460. After the death of his mother in 1463, and of her principal supporter, James Kennedy, bishop of St. Andrews, two years later, the person of the young king, and with it the chief authority in the kingdom, were seized (1456) by Sir Alexander Boyd and his brother Lord Boyd, while the latter's son, Thomas, was created earl of Arran and married to the king's sister, Mary. In July 1469 James himself was married to Margaret (d. 1486), daughter of Christian I., king of Denmark and Norway, but before the wedding the Boyds had lost their power. Having undertaken the government in person, the king's authority was strengthened by the submission of the powerful earl of Ross. About 1479, prob ably with reason both suspicious and jealous, James arrested his brothers, Alexander, duke of Albany, and John, earl of Mar; Mar met his death in a mysterious fashion at Craigmillar, but Albany escaped to France and then visited England, where in 1482 Edward IV. recognized him as king of Scotland by the gift of the king of England. War broke out with England, but James, made a prisoner by his nobles, was unable to prevent Albany and his ally, Richard, duke of Gloucester (afterwards Richard III.), from taking Berwick and marching to Edinburgh. Peace
with Albany followed, but soon afterwards the duke was again in communication with Edward, and was condemned by the parlia ment after the death of the English king in April 1483. He died in France in 1485. James's policy of peace with England did not commend itself to the turbulent section of his nobles; his lavish expenditure added to the discontent, and a rebellion broke out. Fleeing into the north of his kingdom James collected an army and came to terms with his foes; but the rebels, having seized the person of the king's eldest son, afterwards James IV., renewed the struggle. The rival armies met at the Sauchieburn near Bannockburn, and James was defeated and subsequently mur dered (June 11, 1488), according to rumour, by a soldier in the guise of a priest. He left three sons—his successor, James IV.; James Stewart, duke of Ross, afterwards archbishop of St. Andrew, and John Stewart, earl of Mar. James was a cultured prince with a taste for music and architecture, but was a weak and incapable king.