Rough Wooing

James V’s position has become increasingly precarious. Still mourning the early death of his first queen, Madeleine of Valois, he has no secure heir and suspects plots among nobles, courtiers and even members of his own family. Some fears are exaggerated, but many are justified, and the king’s isolation makes sound judgement ever harder.

The greatest external danger is Henry VIII, whose dynastic ambitions and appetite for influence extend north of the border. James’s mother, Margaret Tudor, is herself entangled in English and Scottish factional politics, while David Beaton and David Lindsay struggle to protect the crown and maintain an independent foreign policy. Marriage, religion and succession become inseparable from national defence as pressure builds towards open conflict. The concluding James V novel traces the king’s later reign and the mounting crisis that will outlive him, leaving an infant Mary, Queen of Scots, at the centre of England’s violent campaign to control Scotland’s future.