AFTER the royal marriage and coronation of
Tames 111. with Margaret of Oldenburg-both of
which ceremonies took place with great pomp at
Edinburgh in 1476, he unfortunately contrived to
lisgust his proud nobility by receiving into favour
many persons of inferior rank. Thus, deep and
dangerous intrigues were formed against him, and
by those minions he was soon made aware that his
brothers-Alexander Duke of Albany, and John
Earl of Mar-were forming a conspiracy against
him, and that the former aimed at nothing less than
wresting the sceptre from his hand, and getting
himself, with English aid, crowned as Alexander IV.,
King of Scotland and the Isles-a fact since proved
by authentic documents.
Instead of employing his authority as Warden of
the Marches in the repression of outrage, Albany
THE ROYAL LODGING OR PALACE, FROM THE GRAND PARADE.
I than once; he slew John of Scougal in East
Lothian; and surrounded himself with a band of
desperadoes, who at his behest executed the most
nefarious crimes.
The dark accusations under which he lay roused
at length the suspicions of the king, who ordered
the arrest of both him and Mar. Over the latter's
fate there hangs a strange mystery. One historian
declares that he died of fever in the Canongate,
under the spells of witches who were burned
therefor. Another records that he was bled to
death in Craigmillar Castle; and the singular discovery
there in 1818 of a man's skeleton built erect
into the north wall was thought to warrant the
adoption of the last account.
In 1482 Albany was committed to the Castle
of Edinburgh, a close prisoner in the hands of
