THE UNPOPULAR KING

History does not remember King James III fondly. A pious, recluse of a man who was often poorly counselled and cursed with his own similarly poor judgement, he provoked the nobility, fell out with his family, and exhibited an apparent disinterest in goings-on outside of Edinburgh and Stirling.

He was said to be, almost obsessively, engaged in foreign politics, especially yo-yoing relations with England. He held grand ideas of empire building in continental Europe along with a distasteful habit of aggrandizing himself.

Yet, some suggest that James III’s self-belief in his authority, interest in foreign affairs and patronage of artistic endeavours mark him out as Scotland’s first Renaissance monarch. How valid is this argument? To answer, we need to understand the world in which James III sat