ABSTRACT
Of all James VI’s nobles, James Douglas, Earl of Morton, was perhaps most able to appreciate the difficulties his monarch faced in balancing the conflicting pressures of rule. During his half-decade as James VI’s regent from November 1572 until March 1578, Morton was required to, as contemporaries said, ‘bear the person of the monarch’ – in other words, he was required to fulfil all the monarch’s duties and in return enjoyed almost monarchical rights.1 In the long run, however, Morton’s experience of rule proved a poisoned chalice. Taking as its focus the years between Morton’s loss of the regency in 1578 and his execution for treason in 1581, this chapter argues that Morton’s failure to thrive politically in the early years of James’ majority was due to the legacy of his regency. As regent, Morton had managed Scottish diplomacy as well as domestic affairs. Unfortunately for him, following his loss of the regency, English diplomats and, crucially, the English queen Elizabeth I failed to understand that it was not Morton, but King James, to whom they should direct their diplomatic efforts. This alienated Morton domestically and paved the way for the accusations of treason that led to his death sentence. In suggesting that the English made this profound mistake, this chapter also argues that James VI had greater political significance in this period than either his English contemporaries or modern historians have realised. The period 1578-81 was not one in which the monarch was little more than a puppet in political life. These three years witnessed James’ gradual, but nonetheless discernible, emergence as an influential participant in domestic and international affairs.
