James Stewart, Commendator of Kelso and Melrose (c. 1529–1557) was a member of the Scottish royal family.

Career

James Stewart was a son of

James V of Scotland James V (10 April 1512 – 14 December 1542) was List of Scottish monarchs, King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of King James IV a ...

and Elizabeth Schaw, a member of the Schaw of

Sauchie Sauchie is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies north of the River Forth and south of the Ochil Hills, within the council area of Clackmannanshire. Sauchie has a population of around 6000 and is located northeast of Alloa and ...

family. His exact birthdate is unknown. A document dated 1534 states he was in his fifth year. Elizabeth Schaw is sometimes identified as a woman of the same name who married a minor courtier of James V, Robert Gibb. James V had children with a number of mistresses before his marriages to Madeleine of France and

Mary of Guise Mary of Guise (; 22 November 1515 – 11 June 1560), also called Mary of Lorraine, was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from 1538 until 1542, as the second wife of King James V. She was a French people, French noblewoman of the ...

. A more well-known half-brother,

James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray (c. 1531 – 23 January 1570) was a member of the House of Stewart as the illegitimate son of King James V of Scotland. At times a supporter of his half-sister Mary, Queen of Scots, he was the regent of Scotl ...

, was variously known as "Lord James", the Prior of St Andrews, the

Earl of Mar There are currently two earldoms of Mar in the Peerage of Scotland, and the title has been created seven times. The first creation of the earldom is currently held by Margaret of Mar, 31st Countess of Mar, who is also clan chief of Clan Mar. Th ...

, the

Earl of Moray The title Earl of Moray, or Mormaer of Moray (pronounced "Murry"), was originally held by the rulers of the Province of Moray, which existed from the 10th century with varying degrees of independence from the Kingdom of Alba to the south. Until ...

, and Regent Moray. In April 1532 the king's wardrobe servant and pursemaster Harry Kemp spent £20 Scots on the expenses of keeping the infant and his nurse's wages. In 1536,

George Buchanan George Buchanan (; February 1506 – 28 September 1582) was a Scottish historian and humanist scholar. According to historian Keith Brown, Buchanan was "the most profound intellectual sixteenth-century Scotland produced." His ideology of re ...

became his tutor. Clothes for "lord James of Kelso" and his brothers were made by the king's tailor, Thomas Arthur. James Stewart resided at St Andrews and was there in March 1539. Like other members of the Scottish royal family, James Stewart was granted an income from monastic lands, as Commendator of Kelso and

Melrose Melrose may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Melrose, Scottish Borders, a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland ** Melrose Abbey, ruined monastery ** Melrose RFC, rugby club Australia * Melrose, Queensland, a locality in the South Burnett R ...

. James V wrote to the Pope

Clement VII Pope Clement VII (; ; born Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the most unfortunate of ...

to obtain dispensations so his sons could hold clerical offices. In 1541 James V wrote to Cardinal Ghinucci in Rome to obtain permission to restructure the landholding system of the estates of Kelso and Melrose. He intended to realise a financial advantage (in the name of his son) by setting tenancies in " feufarm" with long lease "

teind In Scotland a teind () was a tithe derived from the produce of the land for the maintenance of the clergy. It is also an old lowland term for a tribute due to be paid by the fairies to the devil every seven years. Found in the story of Tam Lin as ...

s" or tithes. In order to do this, permission was required from Rome for the actions of administrators on the behalf of the nine-year old James Stewart. Lord James and his brother Lord James of St Andrews were at school in

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

after the death of James V. In June 1543,

Regent Arran In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

sent the Laird of Grange to collect them and take them to

Linlithgow Palace The ruins of Linlithgow Palace are located in the town of Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland, west of Edinburgh. The palace was one of the principal residences of the monarchs of Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland in the 15th and 16th ce ...

. Robert Douglas took his stepson Lord James of St Andrews to

Lochleven Castle Lochleven Castle is a ruined castle on an island in Loch Leven, in the Perth and Kinross local authority area of Scotland. Possibly built around 1300, the castle was the site of military action during the Wars of Scottish Independence (1296–1 ...

instead, defying the Regent. James Stewart was at

Stirling Castle Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most historically and architecturally important castles in Scotland. The castle sits atop an Intrusive rock, intrusive Crag and tail, crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill ge ...

with his sister

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was List of Scottish monarchs, Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legit ...

on 28 July 1544, and signed and sealed a charter. He wrote a letter to his step-mother

from

, apparently in 1545, discussing the business of feuing and teinds on her

jointure Jointure was a legal concept used largely in late mediaeval and early modern Britain, denoting the estate given to a married couple by the husband's family. One of its most important functions was providing a livelihood for the wife if she became ...

lands of Selkirk and Ettrick. He had recently been with her at

. As instructed, he told Tom Scot of Haining to take his teind crops to their barn yard in Selkirk. William Hamilton of Sanquhar assisted in the administration of

Melrose Abbey St Mary's Abbey, Melrose is a partly ruined monastery of the Cistercian order in Melrose, Roxburghshire, in the Scottish Borders. It was founded in 1136 by Cistercian monks at the request of King David I of Scotland and was the chief house of t ...

. Sanquhar had coal mines on Melrose lands, and if James Stewart visited Mauchline Castle (a Melrose property) the coal was reserved to him. In August 1548 his half brothers

John Stewart, Commendator of Coldingham John Stewart, Commendator of Coldingham (1531–1563) was a Scottish landowner. He was a son of Elizabeth Carmichael (1514–1550) and James V of Scotland. His mother later married John Somerville of Cambusnethan. Career As a child, John Stewa ...

and Lord Robert sailed for France from

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

with

. According to an English observer, Henry Johnes, the older brothers, Lord James, Prior of St Andrews and James Stewart, Commendator of Kelso and Melrose refused to go with her. In 1550, after the conclusion of the war known the

Rough Wooing The Rough Wooing (; December 1543 – March 1551), also known as the Eight Years' War, was part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars of the 16th century. Following the English Reformation, the break with the Catholic Church, England attacked Scotland ...

, he accompanied Mary of Guise on a visit to French court and his half-sister

. His half-brother

also came. A number of Scottish nobles and lairds were included on the trip, perhaps a move intended to build support for pro-French policy. In July 1553, his sister Lady Jean Stewart was contracted to marry

Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll (1532/1537 – 12 September 1573) was a Scottish nobleman, peer, and politician. He was one of the leading figures in the politics of Scotland during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the early par ...

. Her cash dowry of 5,000 merks was to be paid by Mary of Guise and her brothers, the Commendators of Kelso, Holyrood, and Coldingham. He died in 1557. In March 2021 one of his seal matrices, as Commendator of Kelso of Melrose, showing his royal arms with a " bar sinister" of illegitimacy, was acquired by the

National Museum of Scotland The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, is a museum of Scottish history and culture. It was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, ...

.BBC: 'Rare Stewart royal seal bought at auction', 10 March 2021
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Ancestors

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, James 1557 deaths Court of James V of Scotland 16th-century Scottish people

James James may refer to: People * James (given name) * James (surname) * James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician * James, brother of Jesus * King James (disambiguation), various kings named James * Prince Ja ...

Sons of kings