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James Stewart (1566–1625), son of Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–1587) and Lord Darnley (1546–1567), was crowned King of Scotland by Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney, in the Holy Rude Kirk at Stirling on 29 July 1567.

Abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned in the island castle of Lochleven following her surrender at the Battle of Carberry Hill. On 24 July she was forced to sign abdication papers in favour of her son. Her keeper at Lochleven, William Douglas, had a legal paper drawn up on 28 July 1567, which stated that he was not present when the Queen signed this "demission" of the crown and did not know of it, and had offered to convey her to Stirling Castle for her son's coronation, which offer she refused.

Preparations

On 26 July messengers were sent to Scotland's burgh towns to announce the coronation and robes were ordered for the infant king. 62 nobles and 13 commissioners for towns signed a band or contract pledging support for James as king, and to defend the Scottish Reformation. Edinburgh's commissioners were Michael Gilbert, Nicol Edward, and Robert Abercromby.

The Privy Council asserted their commitment to justice and vengeance against the Earl of Bothwell for the murder of Lord Darnley by sending the dismembered body parts of his henchman William Blackadder for display at Stirling, Glasgow, Perth, and Dundee.

The Scottish lords and Privy Council travelled to Stirling on 27 July bringing the crown, sceptre, and sword, known as the Honours of Scotland, from Edinburgh Castle.

James Melville of Halhill was sent to Hamilton to invite the Archbishop of St Andrews and Abbot of Arbroath. They did not come to Stirling, but sent their delegate Arthur Hamilton of Merritoun to make a statement of the rights of James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault and the Hamilton family to the crown of Scotland.

Coronation

Annabell Murray, Countess of Mar brought Prince James down from the castle to the Holy Rude Kirk on the afternoon of 29 July for the three hour ceremony. His mother had been crowned in the chapel in Stirling Castle on 9 September 1543.

At the start of the proceedings in the church Lord Lindsay and Lord Ruthven declared on oath that Mary had "resigned willingly without compulsion." The Earl of Atholl carried the crown of honour, the Earl of Morton, the sceptre, and the Earl of Glencairn carried the sword of honour. Morton pronounced the coronation oath on behalf of James, the traditional ending of the Scottish coronation service. James was anointed with oil. Accounts of the ceremony mention that next Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney, anointed the king and the Earl of Atholl placed the crown on his head. The Earl of Mar carried the 13 month old king back to Stirling Castle.

The English ambassador, Nicolas Throckmorton, refused to attend "as these accidents were chanced, and these matters concluded" contrary to Elizabeth's advice and wishes, but he sent his aide and cousin Henry Middlemore to Stirling. Throckmorton wrote up Middlemore's account of the ceremony and sent it to Elizabeth I:

my cowsen Henrye Myddlemore retorned from Sterlynge to thys Towne, by whom I understand thynges have passed at Sterlynge as ensueth: The 29th day of July ... the yonge Prince was crowned in the great Churche of Sterlyng by the Bisshop of Orkneye ... Mr Knox preached and tooke a place of the Scrypture forthe of the bookes of the Kynges where Joas was crowned verye yonge to treate on. Some ceremonyes accustomablye used at the Coronation of their Princes were omytted, and many retayned. Th'oath usually to be mynistered to the Kynge this realme at his coronation was taken by the Earl of Morton and the Laird of Dun on the Prynces behalfe.

The coronation robes of crimson and blue velvet were made by James Inglis. The fur trim was provided by Archibald Leche. Three trumpeters, James Savoy, James Weddell, and Ramsay performed at the ceremony. The Lord Lyon and other heralds attended. Messengers were sent to the burghs to proclaim the king. Edinburgh burgh council ordered bonfires in celebration, and inhabitants who failed to contribute were fined.

A few days after the coronation, Throckmorton learned that Mary was now confined to more securely guarded lodgings in a tower at Lochleven Castle. James VI and Anne of Denmark were crowned as king and queen consort of England on 25 July 1603.

Edinburgh's burgh council fined residents who had not set out fires to celebrate the coronation.

References

1. Alan Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI & I (London, 2003), p. 31: Lucinda H. S. Dean, 'Crowning the Child', Sean McGlynn & Elena Woodacre, The Image and Perception of Monarchy in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Newcastle, 2014), pp. 254–280.
2. Steven J. Reid, 'Thomas Maitland's "the Consecration of James VI"', Rethinking the Renaissance and Reformation in Scotland (Boydell, 2024), 192.
3. Margaret H. B. Sanderson, Mary Stewart's People (James Thin, 1987), p. 58.
4. Charles Thorpe McInnes, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1970), pp. 67–68.
5. Karin Bowie, Public Opinion in Early Modern Scotland (Cambridge, 2020), p. 95.
6. James David Marwick, Extracts from the Records of Edinburgh, 1557–1561 (Edinburgh, 1875), p. 238.
7. Alexander Courtney, James VI, Britannic Prince: King of Scots and Elizabeth's Heir, 1566–1603 (Routledge, 2024), p. 18.
8. Thomas Thomson, Diurnal of Occurrents (Edinburgh, 1833), p. 118.
9. Allan James Crosby, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1566–1568 (London, 1871), pp. 304 no. 1535, 306 no. 1538: Joseph Stevenson, Selections from unpublished manuscripts illustrating the reign of Mary Queen of Scotland (Glasgow, 1837), p. 258
10. Thomas Thomson, Diurnal of Occurrents (Edinburgh, 1833), p. 118.
11. John Guy, My Heart is My Own: Mary, Queen of Scots (London, 2004), p. 27.
12. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 370.
13. The Historie and Life of King James the Sixt (Edinburgh, 1804), p. 27.
14. Thomas Thomson, Diurnal of Occurrents (Edinburgh, 1833), p. 119.
15. Margaret Warrender, Illustrations of Sixteenth Century Scottish History (Edinburgh: James Stillie, 1889), p. 8.
16. Andrea Thomas, 'Coronation Ritual and Regalia', Julian Goodare & Alasdair A. MacDonald, Sixteenth-Century Scotland (Brill, 2008), p. 54: James Anderson, Collections, 2 (Edinburgh, 1727), 247–48.
17. Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 54.
18. Thomas Thomson, Diurnal of Occurrents (Edinburgh, 1833), p. 118.
19. Alan Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI & I (London, 2003), p. 31.
20. Joseph Stevenson, Selections from unpublished manuscripts illustrating the reign of Mary Queen of Scotland (Glasgow, 1837), p. 251.
21. Joseph Stevenson, Selections from unpublished manuscripts illustrating the reign of Mary Queen of Scotland (Glasgow, 1837), pp. 252, 257.
22. Joseph Bain, Calendar of State Papers Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), pp. 362, 370, TNA SP 14/52 f.81r.
23. Charles Thorpe McInnes, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1970), pp. 67–69, 409.
24. Extracts from the Records of Edinburgh, 1557–1561 (Edinburgh, 1875), p. 238.
25. David Hay Fleming, Mary Queen of Scots (London, 1897), 477.
26. Extracts From the Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh, 1557–1571 (Edinburgh: Scottish Burgh Records Society, 1875), p. 238.

• 1567 in Scotland
• Court of James VI and I
• James VI and I
• Renaissance in Scotland
• Scottish monarchy
• Coronations of British monarchs
• Stirling (city)