The rivalry among France, England and the Holy Roman Empire lent James unwonted diplomatic weight, and saw him secure two politically and financially advantageous French marriages, first to Madeleine of Valois and then to Mary of Guise.

James has been described as a vindictive king, whose policies were largely motivated by the pursuit of wealth, and a paranoid fear of his nobility which led to the ruthless appropriation of their lands.

[7] The first year of his regency was a period when a vigorous defence of his authority was essential to prevent the crumbling of Scottish government either into anarchy or into English control.

[12] In February 1517, James was brought from Stirling to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, but during an outbreak of plague in the city, he was moved to the care of Antoine d'Arces at nearby rural Craigmillar Castle.

When he went to the park below the Castle, "by secret and in right fair and soft wedder (weather)", six horsemen would scour the countryside two miles roundabout for intruders.

Although his academic development was effectively cut short under Angus's captivity from 1525 onward, James V had been given a strong grounding by a number of tutors, including David Lyndsay and Gavin Dunbar.

[15][16] Between 1517 and 1520, Albany sojourned in France, and did not exercise the regency in person, but through his lieutenants including Antoine d'Arces, sieur de la Bastie.

Following the signing of the Treaty of Bruges (1521) between Henry VIII of England and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Francis I allowed the Duke of Albany to return to Scotland to strengthen the Franco-Scottish alliance.

[17] The Treaty of Rouen was ratified, and Madeleine of Valois was suggested as a suitable bride for James V. When the Duke of Albany returned in November 1521 Margaret sided with him against her husband, the Earl of Angus.

However, the plan fell apart in November 1525 when, at the end of his period of custody, Angus refused to surrender the King who, in effect, became a prisoner of the Red Douglases for the next two-and-a-half years.

Several attempts were made to free the young king—one by Walter Scott of Branxholme and Buccleuch, who ambushed the King's forces on 25 July 1526 at the Battle of Melrose and was routed off the field.

[20] Pierre de Ronsard saw James in 1537 when the King was twenty-four and summed up his paradoxical appearance: "La douceur et la force illustroient son visage Si que Venus et Mars en avoient fait partage" – His royal bearing, and vigorous pursuit of virtue, of honour, and love's war, this sweetness and strength illuminate his face, as if he were the child of Venus and Mars.

As well as taking advice from his nobility and using the services of the Duke of Albany in France and at Rome, James had a team of professional lawyers and diplomats, including Adam Otterburn and Thomas Erskine of Haltoun.

Later in the reign, the English ambassador Ralph Sadler tried to encourage James to close the monasteries and take their revenue so that he would not have to keep sheep like a mean subject.

James replied that he had no sheep, he could depend on his god-father the king of France, and it was against reason to close the abbeys that "stand these many years, and God's service maintained and kept in the same, and I might have anything I require of them.

The lack of commitment to this meeting was regarded by English observers as a sign that Scotland was firmly allied to France and Catholicism, particularly by the influence of Cardinal Beaton, Keeper of the Privy Seal, and as a cause for war.

[33] James V spent a large amount of money (at least £41,000) during his adult reign on extensively remodelling all the major residences and several minor ones, including the construction of new structures, with the most significant work focused on Falkland Palace and Stirling Castle.

[38] At Falkland Palace, James V extended his father's buildings in French Renaissance style between 1537 and 1541 and built a real tennis court in the garden in 1541.

[34][40] The largest of James V's building projects was the construction of the Royal Palace at Stirling Castle, built between 1538 and 1540, with its Renaissance facades and the north, east and south quarters housing the king's and queen's apartments.

[44] By 1533 there was discussion of James marrying one of his second cousins, Christina or Dorothea, the daughters of Christian II of Denmark, while in 1534 Margaret of Valois-Angoulême, sister of Francis I, suggested her sister-in-law Isabella.

Again, the Duke of Albany briefly entertained the idea that James might marry Christina of Denmark, and the King halted progress on the marriage negotiations.

He sailed from Kirkcaldy on 1 September 1536, with the earls of Arran, Argyll and Rothes, Lord Fleming, David Beaton and a force of 500 men in a fleet of six ships, using the Mary Willoughby as his flagship.

[48] In the event, James V would be away from Scotland for eight months, becoming the first Scottish king to voluntarily remain away from his realm since David II almost two hundred years earlier.

[51] James V renewed the Auld Alliance and fulfilled the terms of the Treaty of Rouen on 1 January 1537 by marrying Madeleine at Notre-Dame de Paris.

James received papal approval in the form of the Blessed sword and hat, and was granted the title of Defender of the Faith by Pope Paul III on 19 January 1537, symbolising the hopes of the papacy that he would resist the path that his uncle Henry VIII had followed.

[52][53] After months of festivities and celebrations, and visits to Chantilly, Compiègne and Rouen (where Madeleine fell ill), the royal couple embarked for Scotland in May 1537, arriving at Leith on 19 May.

[68] As a patron of poets and authors, James supported William Stewart and John Bellenden, the son of his nurse, who translated the Latin History of Scotland compiled in 1527 by Hector Boece into verse and prose.

[70][71]When he married Mary of Guise, Giovanni Ferrerio, an Italian scholar who had been at Kinloss Abbey in Scotland, dedicated to the couple a new edition of his work On the True Significance of Comets against the Vanity of Astrologers.

Some were gunners, wrights, carvers, painters, masons, smiths, harness-makers (armourers), tapesters, broudsters, taylors, cunning chirugeons, apothecaries, with all other kind of craftsmen to apparel his palaces.

On 7 January 1543, the King's body was conveyed from Falkland to the Forth ferry at Kinghorn, before being transported to Edinburgh, escorted by a funeral cortege, and accompanied by Cardinal Beaton, the Earls of Arran, Argyll, Rothes, Marischal and other nobles.