James’s hasty deed was a blunder as well as a crime. He had great provocation, it is true, but even if he had not pledged his word that Douglas should be safe, he had no right to slay him without a fair trial. His act gave excuse to the slaughtered man’s family to rise against their King, and thus he fomented the civil strife which he was so anxious to suppress. After the lapse of several weeks, James, the new Earl--he that had fought in the tournament with the knights of Burgundy--accompanied by his brother, the Earl of Ormond, and by Lord Hamilton, rode to Stirling with six hundred men to defy the King of Scots. After exhibiting in public the letter of safe-conduct and dragging it at a horse’s tail through the principal streets, they showed their open disregard for their sovereign by plundering and burning the town. James’s throne was at this time in considerable danger. Public sympathy was to some extent with the Douglases. A three years’ struggle ensued, in which the King gradually strengthened his position, till the Douglases were crushed in 1455 at the battle of Arkinholm in Eskdale. Stirling Castle was the birthplace of James II.’s son and successor in 1451. Eight years later the bursting of a cannon killed the father at Roxburgh, so that Scotland had again the misfortune to be under a minor King. Many of James III.’s early days were spent in royal Snowdon, the residence that soon became his favourite dwelling-place. Lindsay of Pitscottie remarks that “he took such pleasure to dwell there that he left all other castles and towns in Scotland, because he thought it most pleasantest dwelling there.” When Margaret of Denmark, in 1469, married James III., she received the castle as a portion of her dower, and within its gates she breathed her last, two years before the death of her husband. It was at Stirling that James entertained his low-born favourites: Cochrane, the architect; Rogers, the musician; Andrews, the astrologer; Hommyl, the tailor; and others. From the towers of the fortress he studied the stars, anxious to know what the future held in store. A King devoted to music, arts and science, but disliking war and manly sports, was not a monarch suited to fifteenth century Scotland. James’s brothers, Albany and Mar, would have made better rulers. It was long, however, before the smouldering discontent in the country burst into the fire of rebellion.