Stuart dynasty

James I. 27
England for the release of James I. in consideration of a large
ransom. " Since thou wilt give me neither reverence nor
obedience, I will fetch home one whom we must all obey,"
is said to have been the sentence announcing this decision.
The retiring Kegent had gauged the character of his
sovereign aright.
James I., 1424-1437.
It is no exaggeration to say that James I. of Scotland was
the most illustrious Stuart sovereign who ruled over the
northern country before the two crowns were united. The
King of England, conscious of the value of the prize that had
fallen into his hands, guarded the future sovereign of
Scotland during his captivity with the greatest care.
He was taken in the first instance, on April 12, 1405, to
the Tower of London, and kept a close prisoner there until
June 10, 1407, when Nottingham was chosen as the place of
confinement, wherein nearly seven years were destined to be
spent.*
The first day of March 1414 saw James Stuart relegated
back to the Tower, where he was kept for five months. In
the following August he found a refuge at Windsor, and
there first saw his future Queen, Jane Beaufort. It happened
that the royal captive inhabited the tower which is known
as that of Edward III., and casting his ej'es towards the
garden, he beheld walking therein with her ladies the fair
one whose destiny was to be so closely linked to his own.
The mutual attachment which ensued gave the romantic
flavour to this transaction which the Scots looked for when
their sovereign married ; while as an affair of State the
alliance promised to bring strength and influence to the
northern throne.
Jane Beaufort was daughter of the Earl of Somerset,
brother of Henry IV. of England, so that the two reigning
families of England and Scotland became very closely allied
in blood by means of this love-match. For love-match it
certainly was, celebrated by the royal bridegroom in graceful
verse couched in the ancient language of his own nation, and
therefore ill-adapted for popular criticism, although adjudged
worthy of a more advanced school of poetry than that in
vogue during the fifteenth century in Britain. Speaking of
the first glimpse of Jane Beaufort, the royal poet says, in the
* Henry's ' History of Great Britain,' edition 1788, vol. x. p. 140.