James V, King Of Scotland

(1512-1542)

   Born at the Linlithgow Palace, West Lothian, he succeeded his father, who was killed at the Battle of Flodden (near Berwick-on-Tweed) in 1513. Scotland then became caught in the grip of a power struggle between the pro-French regent, John Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany, and the head of the English party, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, who had married James' mother, Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII. Angus kept James a virtual prisoner until he escaped in 1528, forcing Angus to flee to England. In 1538 James married the French noblewoman Marie de Guise and allied with France against England. He died at Falkland Palace, Fife, a week after the birth of Mary Stuart (Mary, Queen of Scots), his only surviving legitimate child. He was a cruel man who instituted in his later years a near reign of terror in Scotland. However, he is said to have wandered anonymously among his people in beggar's disguise and was known as the "Gaberlunzie Man" (a tinker or traveling beggar, and an enduring figure in Scottish folklore), upon which experiences rest his poem "The Jolly Beggar."

   Sources: An Adventure in the Life of King James V of Scotland by William Topaz McGonagall (see entry) (http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poet=6601andpoem=26761). Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. Biography of James V, King of Scots ("The Gaberlunzie Man") (http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/James V{, King Of Scotland}crumey/james_v.html). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Common Muse, an Antholog y of Popular British Ballad Poetry, XVth-XXth Century. Vivian de Sola Pinto and Allan Edwin Rodway, eds. Philosophical Library, 1957. The Gaberlunzie Man (http://ingeb.org/songs/oabeggar.html). The Gaberlunzie Man (http://www.contemplator.com/child/gaberlunz.html). The Jolly Beggar (http://mysongbook.de/msb/songs/r_clarke/jollybeg.htm).