James. The name of a number of sovereigns of European states, the most noted of whom were James I of England (VI of Scotland), who was born in 1566. He was crowned king of Scotland while an infant, on the abdication of his mother, Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth of England having declared in his favor. He succeeded to her throne in 1603, and died in 1625. James II, born in 1633, succeeded his brother, Charles II, in 1685. Was driven from his kingdom by William Prince of Orange, in 1688, utterly defeated in Ireland, and died an exile in France, in 1701. James IV of Scotland, "the handsomest and most chivalrous prince of his age," was born in 1473. He succeeded his father, James III, who was murdered after the disastrous defeat near Bannockburn, in 1488. James was killed in the sanguinary battle at Flodden Field in 1513, in which nearly the entire Scotch peerage of mature age perished with their king.

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