Isinglass, a gelatine substance prepared from the sounds or air-bladders of certain fresh-water fishes, the sturgeon in particular; it is imported from Russia, Brazil, and the Hudson Bay Territory.
Isis, an Egyptian divinity, the wife and sister of Osiris and mother of Horus, the three together forming a trinity, which is characteristically Egyptian, and such as often repeats itself in Egyptian mythology, and typifying the life of the sun, Osiris representing that luminary slain at night and sorrowed over by his sister Isis, reviving in the morning in his son Horus, and wedded anew to his sister Isis as his wife; passed into the mythology of the Greeks, Isis became identified first with Demeter and then with the Moon, while in that of Rome she figures as the Universe-mother.
Isla, José Francisco de, a Spanish Jesuit, celebrated as a preacher and a humorist and satirist of the stamp of Cervantes; his principal work "Friar Gerund," a satire on the charlatanism and bombast of the popular preaching friars of the day, as Don Quixote was on the false chivalry; the friars he satirised were too strong for him, and he was expelled from Spain, retired to Italy, and died at Bologna in extreme poverty (1703-1781).
Islam or Islamism, the religion of Mahomet, "that we must submit to God; that our whole strength lies in resigned submission to Him, whatsoever He do to us, for this world and the other; this is the soul of Islam; it is properly the soul of Christianity; Christianity also commands us, before all, to be resigned to God. This is yet the highest wisdom that Heaven has revealed to our earth." See "Heroes and Hero-Worship."
Island of Saints, a name given to Ireland in the Middle Ages.
Islands of the Blessed, fabled islands of the far west of the ocean, where the favoured of the gods after death are conceived to dwell in everlasting blessedness.
Islay (7), a large mountainous Island 13 m. W. of Kintyre, Scotland; much of it is cultivated; dairy produce, cattle, and sheep are exported; there are lead, copper, and manganese mines, marble quarries, and salmon fisheries; the distilleries produce 400,000 gallons of whisky annually.
Islington (319), a district of London, 2½ m. N. of St. Paul's; contains the division of Holloway, Highbury, Barnsbury, and part of Kingsland.
Ismail Pasha, khedive of Egypt from 1863, who was obliged by the Powers to abdicate in 1879.
Ismailia, a small town on Suez Canal; was the head-quarters of the work during the construction of the Canal.
Ismaîlis, one of the Mohammedan sects which support the claim of the house of Ali, Mahomet's cousin, to supremacy among the faithful; originating about A.D. 770, they rose to importance in the 10th century under Abdallah, a Persian, who introduced Zoroastrian ideas into their creed and prophesied the appearance of a Madhi or Messiah who should be greater than the Prophet himself; becoming latterly extremely rationalistic the sect lost its influence in the 13th century, and its representatives in Syria and Persia are now comparatively obscure; in Turkey and Egypt, however, several Madhis have arisen, of whom the last, Mohammed Ahmed, b. 1843, gained possession of the Soudan, defeated the Egyptian army in 1883, two years later captured Khartoum, but died at Omdurman shortly afterwards.
Ismenë, the sister of Antigone, who requested, as her accomplice, to be promoted to be sharer in her fate.
Isocrates, an Athenian rhetorician, of a school that was an offshoot of the Sophists (q. v.), and the whole merit of whose oratory depended upon style or literary finish and display; he is said to have starved himself to death after the battle of Cheronea at the age of 98 because he could not brook to outlive the humiliation of Greece by Philip of Macedon and the destruction of its freedom (436-338 B.C.).
Isodorian Decretals, a body of ecclesiastical decretals imposed upon the Church under the name of Isodore of Seville (q. v.).
Isolde, the wife of King Mark of Cornwall, who, under the potency of some philter which she had inadvertently taken, conceived an illicit passion for Sir Tristram, her husband's nephew, the story of which is celebrated in mediæval romance.
Ispahân (60), the ancient capital of Persia, 226 m. S. of Teheran, on the river Zenderud, which, as its greatest glory, is spanned by a noble bridge of 34 arches; it stands in a fertile plain abounding in groves and orchards, amid ruins of its former grandeur, and is a centre of Mohammedan learning; the inhabitants are said to have at one time numbered a million; it produces rich brocades and velvets, firearms, sword-blades, and much ornamental ware; there are many fine buildings, and signs of returning prosperity.
Israel, Kingdom of, the name given to the northern kingdom of the 10 tribes of the Israelites which revolted from the kingdom of Judah after the death of Solomon.
Isräels, Josef, a Dutch oil and water-colour artist and etcher, born in Gröningen; studied in Amsterdam and Paris; devoting himself to genre subjects, he has depicted the pathetic side of the life of the Dutch fisher-folks with great sympathy and power; he won a grand prix at the Paris Exhibition of 1889; b. 1824.
Israfeel, in the Mohammedan mythology an angel whose office it will be to sound the trumpet on the resurrection morning.
Issus, a river in Cilicia, Asia Minor, where Alexander the Great defeated Darius, 333 B.C.
Issy (12), a village ½ m. SW. of Paris, where Davout was defeated by Blücher on 3rd July 1815, and which suffered severely during the siege of Paris by the Germans in 1870-71.
Istamboul, the Turkish name for Constantinople.
Isthmian Games, one of the four Pan-Hellenic festivals; they were periodically celebrated in honour of Poseidon or Neptune at the isthmus of Corinth, in Greece, whence the name.
Istria (299), a mountainous territory of Austria, in the NE. corner of the Adriatic; yields olive-oil, figs, and vines, though often swept by sirocco and bora winds.
Isumbras, St., a hero of mediæval romance, a proud man subdued by God's justice into a penitent and a humble.
Italian Architecture. The style of architecture called Italian was first developed by Filippo Bruneschelli, and flourished during the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries; it was an adaptation of classical circular-arch form to modern requirements. In Rome it conformed most to ancient types; in Venice it assumed its most graceful form. It was more suitable to domestic than to ecclesiastical work; but the dome is an impressive feature, and St. Peter's a noble church.
Italic School, the name given to the school of Pythagoras (q. v.) who taught philosophy in Italy.
Italic Version, The, a version of the Scriptures into Latin on the basis of the Septuagint, executed in N. Italy under episcopal authority from other versions in circulation; being of mixed quality and far from satisfactory, Jerome (q. v.) undertook its revision with the view of a new translation into Latin known as the Vulgate direct from the Hebrew and Greek originals.
Italy (30,536), the central one of three peninsulas stretching into the Mediterranean Sea, in the S. of Europe, has the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian Seas respectively on the E. and W., and is separated from France, Switzerland, and Austria in the N. by the various ranges of the Alps. Between the Alps and the Apennines lies the extensive, fertile plain of Lombardy, watered by the river Po, and containing several large lakes, such as Garda, Como, and Maggiore. The Apennines form a very picturesque chain of mountains 5000 ft. high down the centre of the country. The climate varies in different districts, but is mostly warm. Malaria curses many parts in autumn. Agriculture is extensive, but primitive in manner, and the peasantry are very poor. The most important crops are cereals, including rice and maize, grapes, olives, and chestnuts, and in the S. oranges and lemons. Italian wines are of indifferent quality. Coal and iron are scarce; sulphur is produced in large quantities in Sicily. There are large quarries of marble and alabaster. The most important industries are silk, glass, and porcelain. There is an extensive foreign trade, chiefly with France and Great Britain; the exports consist of silk, sulphur, marble, fruit, and wine; the imports of coal, iron, and textile goods. The religion is Roman Catholic; education is now compulsory. The Gothic kingdom of Italy was founded on the ruins of the Roman Empire, A.D. 489. In succession the country was conquered by the forces of the Byzantine Empire, by the Lombards, and by the Franks. From the 11th century onwards its history has been one of constant internal strife and confusion. The presence of the papal power in Rome, the rise of such rich trading republics as the cities of Milan, Florence, Naples, Genoa, and Venice, the pretensions of French kings and German emperors, and factions like those of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, produced endless complications and ruinous wars. In the 16th century the influence of the Austro-Spanish house of Charles V. became dominant; his son, Philip II., was king of Milan and Naples. In more recent times the small states of Italy were continually involved in the wars which devastated Europe, and passed in alliance or in subordination into the hands of Austria, France, and Spain alternately. The last 50 years have seen the unification of the kingdom. After the abortive movement of Mazzini came Cavour and Garibaldi, who, after severe struggles against the Austrians in the North and the despots of Southern Italy, proclaimed Victor Emmanuel king of Italy in 1861. By various steps the whole of the peninsula, with the islands of Sardinia and Sicily, have been brought into the kingdom. The temporal power of the Pope ceased in 1870. The Government is a constitutional monarchy. Franchise is exercised by every citizen who can read and write. Conscription is in force for army and navy. These are both strong, the navy one of the best in Europe. Finances are bad; the debt amounts to £520,000,000, and taxation is ruinous.
Ithaca (10), one of the Ionian Islands, and one of the smallest, known now under the name Thiaki; it was the home of Ulysses, and his domain as king when he set out for the Trojan War, and which he did not see again till his return after twenty years. Also a town (11) in New York State, U.S., seat of Cornell University (q. v.).
Ithuriel, an angel whom Milton represents as sent by Gabriel to search for Satan in Paradise, who had found entrance by eluding the vigilance of the guard; he was armed with a spear, the touch of which could unmask any disguise, and by means of which he discovered Satan lurking in the garden in the form of a toad.
Itinerary, a name given among the Romans to an account or a map of the principal routes through the empire and the stations along them.
Iturbide, Augustine de, a Mexican general, emancipated Mexico from the yoke of Spain; seized the crown and was proclaimed emperor in 1822, was obliged to abdicate next year and leave the country, but returning, was immediately arrested, and shot (1783-1824).
Ivan (i. e. John), the name of two grand-dukes and four czars of Russia; the two grand-dukes were Ivan I., grand-duke from 1328 to 1340, and Ivan II., his son, grand-duke from 1353 to 1359.
Ivan III., surnamed The Threatening, sought to free Russia from the yoke of the Tartars who had held it tributary for two centuries; gained victories over the Tartars and the Poles, and was the first to receive at Moscow ambassadors from other Powers of Europe; reigned from 1462 to 1505.
Ivan IV., surnamed The Terrible, grandson of the preceding, assumed the sovereignty at 14, had himself crowned in 1545, and took the title of Czar; his first great ambition was to destroy the Tartar power, which he did at Kasan and Astrakhan, receiving homage thereafter from almost all the Tartar chiefs; on the death of his wife in 1563 he lost all self-restraint, and by the ferocity of his wars provoked hostility which the Pope, who had been appealed to, interposed to appease; in a fit of passion he killed his eldest son, whom he loved, remorse for which embittered his last days and hastened his end (1530-1584).
Ivanhoe, the hero of Sir Walter Scott's novel of the name, the disinherited son of Cedric of Rotherwood, who falls in love with Rowena, a ward of his father, but by the exhibition of his prowess as a knight is at the intercession of King Richard, reconciled to his father, with the result that he marries Rowena.
Ivanova (32), a Russian town in Vladimir, 210 m. NE. of Moscow, engaged in the manufacture of cotton, and known as the "Manchester of Russia."
Ivanovitch, Ivan, a lazy, good-natured impersonation of the typical Russian, as John Bull is of the Englishman, and Brother Jonathan of the American.
Ives, St., a town on the Ouse, in Huntingdonshire, 50 m. N. of London, where Oliver Cromwell resided from 1631 to 1635; the chief industries are malting and brewing.
Iviza (22), the most westerly of the Balearic Isles, is hilly and well wooded, with fertile valleys and important fisheries.
Ivory Coast, a territory on the K. of the Gulf of Guinea, belonging partly to Liberia and partly to France and Britain.
Ivory Gate, the gate spoken of in Virgil through which dreams pass that do not turn out true. See Horn Gate.
Ivry, a village in the dep. of Eure, NE. of Dreux, famous for the victory of Henry of Navarre over the Leaguers in 1590.
Ixion, the king of the Lapithæ (q. v.), who being admitted to heaven attempted to do violence to Hera, and whom Zeus deluded to embrace a phantom image of her instead, whereby he became the father of the Centaurs, and whom Zeus thereafter punished by fastening him hands and feet to an eternally revolving wheel in hell.
Izalio, a volcano in the republic of San Salvador, which first announced its existence by a fissure opening in 1798 on the plain that now surrounds it, from which there vomited lava and cinders, accompanied with earthquake.
J
Jabalpur (84), a town, district, and one of the four divisions of the Central Provinces, India; the town is an important commercial and railway centre, situated 228 m. SW. of Allahabad; cotton and carpets are amongst its chief manufactures.
Jack, a familiar form of John, the most widely spread of Christian names, and said to be derived from the French Jacques or, as others maintain, from Jankin, a distinctive form of Johan or John; Johnkin gives us Jock and Jockey; from its extreme commonness it has acquired that slightly contemptuous signification observable in such compounds as "every man Jack," "Jack-of-all-trades," "Jack-an-apes," and the name as applied to the knaves in playing-cards, and to the small white ball used as a mark in the game of bowls is an example of its transferred sense.
Jackaroo, name given in Australia to a green-horn from England inexperienced in bush life.
Jackdaw of Rheims, one of the Ingoldsby Legends (q. v.).
Jackson, 1, a prosperous manufacturing city (21) in Michigan, U.S.A., on the Grand River, 70 m. W. of Detroit; has various mills, iron-works, breweries, &c., and bituminous coal-mines on its outskirts. 2, A cotton market-town (10), capital of Madison County, Tennessee, on the South Fork of the Forked Deer River, 107 m. SE. of Cairo, Illinois.
Jackson, Andrew, General, president of the United States, born at Waxhaw, N. Carolina, adopted law as a profession, and in 1788 became public prosecutor at Nashville; took a prominent part in establishing the State of Tennessee, of which he subsequently became a senator and a, judge; during the war with Britain (1812-14) be came to the front and crowned a series of successes by his great victory over Sir E. Pakenham at New Orleans; for a time he was governor of the newly purchased State of Florida, but resigning, he again entered the U.S. Senate in 1823; five years later he became President, and in 1832 was again elected; his Presidency is associated with the readjustment of the tariff on a purely protective basis, which led to disputes with S. Carolina, the sweeping away of the United States Bank, the wiping out of the national debt in 1835, and the vigorous enforcement of claims against the French for damage done during the Napoleonic wars; his imperious yet honest nature led him to make a more frequent use of the President's veto than any of his predecessors (1767-1845).
Jackson, Thomas Jonathan, known as Stonewall Jackson, an American general, born in Virginia; bred for the army; distinguished himself in the Mexican War; retired from the army in 1853, and became a professor in Mathematics and Military Science in Virginia; was appointed brigadier-general in the Confederate army at the outbreak of the Civil War, and earned the nom de guerre of "Stonewall" by his firmness at the battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861; distinguished himself in subsequent engagements; at Chancellorville was by mistake fired at in the dark and mortally wounded by his own men on May 6, 1863; he was a man of the Cromwell stamp, and his death was not only a blow to his own party, but matter of grief to the whole American nation (1824-1863).
Jacksonville, 1, the chief seat of commerce (17) in Florida State, is situated on St. John's River, some 20 m. from its mouth; is a busy railway centre, and has an active river trade in lumber, cotton, fruits, &c., and is a health resort. 2, Capital (13) of Morgan County, Illinois, is pleasantly situated on a fertile plain, 34 m. SW. of Springfield; is noted as an educational centre, and for its many charity asylums; its manufactures embrace woollens, paper, &c.
Jacob, a Hebrew patriarch, younger son of Isaac and Rebecca, the favourite of his mother, and had twelve sons, the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel; his character and the story of his life are naïvely delineated in the book of Genesis.
Jacob, Jean Claude, a serf from the Jura Mountains, 120 years old, who was brought from his native place to figure as "dean of the human race" in Paris at the great federation festival of June 1790.
Jacobi, Friedrich Heinrich, a German philosopher, born at Düsseldorf; bred for business, and after engaging in it for a time threw it up for a revenue appointment; devoted all his by-hours to philosophy and correspondence with eminent men, and was appointed President of the Academy of Sciences at Münich in 1807; he formed no system and he founded no school; his thoughts present themselves in a detached form, and are to be gathered from letters, dialogues, and imaginative works; he contended for the dogma of "immediate cognition as the special organ of the supersensuous," and failed to see, as Schwegler notes, that said cognition "has already described a series of subjective intermediating movements, and can pretend to immediacy only in entire oblivion of its own nature and origin" (1743-1819).
Jacobi, Karl Gustavo, a celebrated German mathematician, born at Potsdam, of Jewish birth; was professor at Königsberg and Berlin, and one of the founders of the theory of determinants (1801-1851).
Jacobins, a political club, originally known as the Club Breton, which was founded in Paris during the French Revolution; so called from its place of meeting in the Rue St. Honoré, which had previously been a Jacobin friar convent; it exercised a great influence over the course of the Revolution, and had affiliated societies all over the country, working along with it; its members were men of extreme revolutionary views, procured the death of the king, exterminated the Girondists, roused the lowest classes against the middle, and were the ruling spirits during the Reign of Terror, of whom Robespierre was the chief, the fall of whom sealed their doom; they were mobbed out of their place of meeting with execrations on Hallow-Eve 1794.
Jacobites, a name given to certain partisans of Eutychean sect in the 17th century in the East, from the name of their leader.
Jacobites, the name given to the adherents of the Stuart dynasty in Great Britain after their expulsion from the throne in 1688, and derived from that of James II., the last Stuart king; they made two great attempts to restore the exiled dynasty, in 1715 and 1745, but both were unsuccessful, after which the movement exhausted itself in an idle sentimentality, which also is by this time as good as extinct.
Jacobs, a German Greek scholar, born at Gotha; editor of "Anthologia Græca" (1767-1847).
Jacobus, a gold coin of the reign of James I., worth 25 shillings.
Jacoby, Johan, a Prussian politician, born in Königsberg; bred to medicine, but best known as a politician in a liberal interest, which involved him in prosecutions; was imprisoned for protesting against the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine; he was a man of fearless honesty, and one day had the courage to say to the Emperor William I., "It is the misfortune of kings that they will not listen to the truth" (1805-1877).
Jacotot, Jean Joseph, a celebrated educationalist, born at Dijon, France; after holding various educational appointments, he in 1818 became professor of the French Language and Literature at Louvain, and subsequently held the post of Director of the Military Normal School; he is noted for his "Universal Method" of education, which is based on his assumption that men's minds are of equal calibre (1770-1840).
Jacquard Loom, a loom with an apparatus for weaving figures in textiles, such as silks, muslins, and carpets, which was the invention of an ingenious Frenchman, born in Lyons, of the name of Joseph Marie Jacquard (1752-1834).
Jacquerie, the name given to an insurrection of French peasants against the nobles in the Ile of France (q. v.), which broke out on May 21, 1358, during the absence of King John as a prisoner in England; it was caused by the oppressive exactions of the nobles, and was accompanied with much savagery and violence, but the nobles combined against the revolt, as they did not do at the time of Revolution, preferring rather to leave the country in a pet, and it was extinguished on the 9th June following.
Jacques Bonhomme, a name given to a French peasant as tamely submissive to taxation.
Jade, is the common name of about 150 ornamental stones, but belongs properly only to nephrite, a pale grey, yellowish, or white mineral found in New Zealand, Siberia, and chiefly in China, where it is highly valued.
Jael, the Jewish matron who slew Sisera the Canaanitish captain, smiting a nail into his temples as he lay asleep in her tent, Judges iv. 18, 21.
Jaen (26), a picturesque cathedral city, capital of a province of the same name, in Andalusia, Spain, on a tributary of the Guadalquivir, 50 m. NW. of Granada; the province (438) lies along the valley of the Guadalquivir, and was once a Moorish kingdom.
Jaggannatha. See Juggernaut.
Jaghir, revenue from land or the produce of it, assigned in India by the Government to an individual as a reward for some special service.
Jahn, Fred. L., a German patriot, born in Pomerania; did much to rouse his country into revolt against the domination of France in 1813 (1778-1852).
Jahn, Johan, a Catholic theologian and Orientalist, born in Moravia; held professorships in Olmütz and Vienna; was distinguished as a Biblical scholar, author of "Biblical Archæology," in five vols., as well as an Introduction to the Old Testament, with Grammar, Lexicons, &c., in connection with the Biblical languages (1750-1816).
Jahn, Otto, philologist and archæologist, born at Kiel; after holding the post of lecturer at Kiel and Greifswald he, in 1847, was appointed to the chair of Archæology in Leipzig; becoming involved in the political troubles of 1848-49, he lost his professorial position, but subsequently held similar appointments at Bonn and Berlin; his voluminous writings, which cover the field of Greek and Roman art and literature, and include valuable contributions to the history of music, are of first-rate importance (1813-1869).
Jail Fever, the popular name of a fever now known to be a severe form of typhus, such as happened in 1579 at the "Black Assize," so called as so many of those in the conduct of it died infected by the prisoners.
Jainas, sects of Hindus scattered up and down India, allied to the Buddhists, though ecclesiastically in open antagonism to them; they reject the Veda of the Brahmans, and oppose to it another of their own, as also their caste and their sacerdotalism, though they observe the rules of caste among themselves; like the Buddhists, they are divided into an ascetic class and a lay, but monasticism is not developed to the same degree among them. There are two principal sects, "the white-gowns" and "the air-clad," i. e. naked, though it is only at meals, which they eat in common, that the latter strip naked; "Not only do they abstain from animal food, but they drink only filtered water, breathe only through a veil, and go sweeping the ground before them for fear of swallowing or crushing any smallest animalcule." In religion they are atheists, and admit of no Creator or of any perfection of being at the beginning, only at the end. They distinguish between soul and body, and regard the former as eternal; evil is not in mere existence, but in life, and their Nirvâna is a blessedness without break or end. We know little or nothing of the history of these sects; with them conduct is everything; their origin is of later date than that of the Buddhists. See Barth's "Religions of India," translated by the Editor.
Jalapa (16), capital of the Mexican State of Vera Cruz, is prettily situated at the base of the Cordilleras, 60 m. NW. of Vera Cruz city.
Jalisco (1,250), a maritime state in Mexico facing the Pacific; consists chiefly of elevated plateau; enjoys a fine climate; has long-established mining industries, some agriculture, and a growing trade in cotton and woollen goods, tobacco, &c.; capital, Guadalajara.
Jamaica ("Land of Springs") (640, of which 15 are whites), a British crown colony, the largest and most important of the British West India Islands; is one of the Greater Antilles group, and lies some 90 m. S. of the eastern end of Cuba; its greatest length E. and W. 144 m.; is traversed by the Blue Mountains (7400 ft.), whose slopes are clad with luxuriant forests of mahogany, cedar, satin-wood, palm, and other trees; of the numerous rivers, only one, the Black River, is navigable and that for only flat-bottomed boats and canoes; there are many harbours (Kingston finest), while good roads intersect the island; the climate is oppressively warm and somewhat unhealthy on the coast, but delightful in the interior highlands; for administrative purposes the land area is divided into three counties, Surrey, Middlesex, and Cornwall; the chief trade-products are dye-woods, fruit, sugar, rum, coffee, and spices; discovered in 1494 by Columbus, and since 1670 a possession of England.
James, the name of three disciples of Christ; James, the elder son of Zebedee, by order of the high-priest was put to death by Herod Agrippa; James, the younger son of Alphæus; and James, the brother of the Lord, stoned to death.
James I., king of Scotland from 1406 to 1437, son of Robert III., born at Dunfermline; in 1406, while on a voyage to France, he was captured by the English and detained by Henry IV. for 18 years, during which time, however, he was carefully trained in letters and in all knightly exercises; returning to Scotland in 1424 with his bride, Jane Beaufort, niece of the English king, he took up the reins of government with a firm hand; he avenged himself on the nobles by whose connivance he had been kept so long out of his throne, reduced the turbulent Highlanders to order, and introduced a number of beneficial reforms (e. g. a wider parliamentary franchise, a fixed standard for the coinage, a supreme court of civil jurisdiction, a renovated system of weights and measures), and widened Scotland's commercial relations with the Continent; he was a man of scholarly tastes, a patron of learning, and exhibits no mean poetic gift in his well-known poem the "King's Quhair"; his vigorous and sometimes harsh and vindictive efforts to lower the powers of the nobility procured him their inveterate hatred, and in 1437 he was murdered in the Dominican monastery at Perth by a band of conspirators (1394-1437).
James II., king of Scotland from 1437 to 1460, son of preceding; during his minority the country was torn by rival factions amongst the nobility, the chief point of contest being the wardship of the young king; an attempt on the part of the conspirators who had murdered James I. to place their leader, the Earl of Athole, on the throne, was frustrated; in 1449 James assumed the duties of his kingship, and in the same year married Mary, the daughter of the Duke of Gueldres; an English war then being waged on the Borders was brought to a close, and the young king entered vigorously upon administrative reforms; in these efforts he was hampered by the opposition of the nobility, and his fiery temper led him to participate in the murder of the chief obstructionist, the Earl of Douglas; protection given to the exiled Douglases by the Yorkists led James to support the claims of Henry VI. in England; he was killed by the bursting of a cannon at the siege of Roxburgh Castle (1430-1460).
James III., king of Scotland from 1460 to 1488, son of James II.; was during his minority under the care of his mother and Bishop Kennedy of St. Andrews, the Earl of Angus being lieutenant-general of the kingdom; but the bishop and the earl died before he was 14, and the nobility fell into faction and disorder again; the first to gain power was Lord Boyd (whose son married the king's sister), but a charge of treason brought about his downfall and exile; the king married Princess Margaret of Denmark in 1469, and gave himself up to a life of quiet ease surrounded by men of art and culture, while his brothers Albany and Mar, by their military tastes and achievements, won the affections of the nobles; James, becoming jealous, imprisoned them; Albany, who had intrigued with Edward IV., fled to France, Mar died in Craigmillar Castle; while the king and his army were marching to meet expected English action in 1482 the nobles, instigated by Archibald, Bell-the-Cat, seized and hanged the royal favourites at Lauder, and committed the king to Edinburgh Castle; a short reconciliation was effected, but was soon broken, and civil war ensued; the defeat of the royalist forces at Sauchieburn took place in 1488; the king escaped from the field, but was thrown from his horse, and taking refuge in a house at Beaton's Mill, was there slain (1462-1488).
James IV., king of Scotland from 1488 to 1513, participated in the rebellion which overthrew his father, James III., and succeeded him; but in remorse for his unfilial conduct wore an iron belt all his life; during his youth his supporters carried on the government in their own interests, and despoiled the nobles who had been loyal to the late king; but when he came of age he showed his independence in choosing good advisers, among them Sir Andrew Wood; his reign was marked by resistance to the claims of the Roman pontiff, by the firm and wise administration of law, the fostering of agriculture, of shipbuilding, and other industries; in 1503 James married Margaret, daughter of Henry VII.; after that king's death relations between the two countries became strained; two English men-of-war captured Andrew Barton's privateers; the jewels which the queen inherited from her father were retained by Henry VIII., and James maintained an alliance with Henry's enemy, France; at the solicitation of the French queen, against the advice of his own queen and nobles, he invaded England in 1513, but the invasion ended in disaster at Flodden, where he and the flower of his army perished; he was an able but a headstrong, a pleasure-loving, and an extravagant man (1472-1513).
James V., king of Scotland from 1513 to 1542, was only an infant when he succeeded to his father's throne; his mother was regent till her marriage with young Angus, when the nobles called James IV.'s cousin, Albany, from France to assume the regency; French and English factions sprang up; Henry VIII. intrigued in the affairs of the country; anarchy and civil war ensued, and Albany retired to France in 1524; in that year the queen-mother, aided by Henry, took the young king from Sir David Lyndsay, to whom he had been entrusted, and assumed the government again in his name; the Douglas family usurped his person and the government in 1525; but James asserted himself three years later, and began to reign in person, displaying judgment and resolution, banishing the Douglases, keeping order in the Highlands and on the Borders, establishing the College of Justice, protecting the peasantry from the tyranny of the barons, and fostering trade by a commercial treaty with the Netherlands; he married (1) Princess Magdalene of France in 1537, and (2) Mary of Guise in 1538; Henry, aggrieved by James's failure to meet him in conference on Church matters, and otherwise annoyed, sent 30,000 men into Scotland in 1542; disaffection prevented the Scottish forces from acting energetically, and the rout of Solway Moss took place; the king, vexed and shamed, sank into a fever and died at Falkland; in this reign the Reformation began to make progress in Scotland, and would have advanced much farther but that James had to support the clergy to play off their power against the nobles (1512-1542)
James VI. of Scotland and I. of England, son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Darnley, born in Edinburgh Castle; was proclaimed king of Scotland when only 13 months old, in 1567; entrusted to the Earl of Mar, and educated by George Buchanan; Moray, Lennox, Mar, and Morton were successively regents, till James assumed the government in 1581, executing Morton and choosing Arran and Lennox for his advisers; plots and counter-plots, the Raid of Ruthven (1582), the siege of Stirling by some of the nobles with 10,000 troops, mostly from England, the surrender of the king and the fall of Arran in 1585, the insurrection of the Catholic nobles 1491-94, and the Gowrie Conspiracy in 1600, betrayed the restlessness of the kingdom, and the weakness of the king; James married Anne of Denmark 1589; on the death of Elizabeth, in 1603, he succeeded to the throne of England as James I.; was at first popular, but soon forfeited all confidence by his favouritism; he governed through creatures like Carr, Earl of Somerset, and the infamous Buckingham, whose indiscretion brought about a war with Spain in 1624; James died immediately afterwards; he has been described by Sully as "the wisest fool in Christendom"; his conduct was certainly much less creditable than his conversation; he held absurdly high views of the royal prerogative; but he sold patents of nobility, and was careless of the misdeeds of his ministers; he did not live to see revolution, but he saw its precursor in the loosening of the bonds of sympathy between sovereign and people (1566-1625).
James II. of England and VII. of Scotland, the son of Charles I., reigned in succession to Charles II. from 1685 to 1688; during the Commonwealth he was a soldier in France and Spain; at the Restoration returned to England as Duke of York, and became Lord High Admiral; avowing himself a Catholic in 1671, the Test Act of 1673 enforced his resignation, and thenceforward repeated attempts were made to exclude him from the succession; on becoming king he promised to maintain the Church and to respect the liberties of the people, but his government all the same was arbitrary and tyrannical; he paraded his Catholicism, persecuted the Covenanters, subordinated English interests to French, permitted the "Bloody Assize," suspended the Test Act, violated the rights of the Universities, gave Church offices to Roman Catholics, and by these and many other acts of despotism made his deposition necessary; leading statesmen invited William of Orange to assume the throne, and James fled to France; an invasion of Ireland in 1689 ended in his defeat at Boyne Water; he retired again to France, and lived at St. Germains till his death (1633-1701).