James II., king of Scotland (1437-60), was only six years old at the time of his father's murder. So alarming was the aspect of affairs that the queen-mother deemed it necessary to take shelter with her son in the castle of Edinburgh. Along with Sir Alexander Livingston of Callendar she was entrusted with the care of the young king; but Sir William Crichton, who was appointed Chancellor, and was governor of Edinburgh Castle, kept possession of his person, until the queen contrived to convey her son out of the fortress concealed in a chest, and took refuge with Livingston in Stirling Castle. Crichton was besieged in his stronghold, and compelled to make his submission. Meanwhile the country was brought to the verge of ruin by the feuds of the nobles, and the death of the Earl of Douglas in 1439 removed the only restraining power. Livingston availed himself of the marriage of the queen-dowager to Sir James Stewart of Lorn to compel her to resign her office as guardian of the king. Crichton and Livingston became reconciled, and were now the sole rulers of the kingdom, till in 1449 the young king assumed the reins of government. He displayed great prudence and vigour in the management of public affairs, and inflicted condign punishment on the Livingstons for their treatment of his mother.
The truce which had for some years existed between England and Scotland expired in 1448, and war was renewed on the Borders. Peace, however, was restored in the following year by the conclusion of a permanent truce. In June 1449 James married Mary, the only daughter of Arnold, Duke of Gueldres. He procured from the parliament a number of judicious enactments for the repression of outrages, the impartial administration of justice, the protection of the tenants of the feudal barons from summary ejection from their lands, and for the punishment of marauders. But his efforts to promote the social welfare of the people were greatly obstructed and thwarted by the nobles, and especially by the Douglasses (see DOUGLAS); Earl William bent his whole energies to obtain pre-eminent position and power, and he entered into a treasonable bond with the Earls of Crawford and Ross. James invited him to the court at Stirling, and earnestly urged him to withdraw from his engagement with Crawford and Ross. Douglas in a haughty and insolent manner refused to comply with this request; and the king, whose temper was naturally fiery, lost all self-command, and stabbed the earl with his dagger. Some of the courtiers pierced his body with twenty-six wounds. After this atrocious murder the friends and vassals of the earl made war on the king until, by liberal promises of land and honours, Lord Hamilton and other powerful nobles were induced to abandon their cause; their estates were then forfeited, and they were compelled to take refuge in England. James was so irritated at the conduct of the Yorkist faction in protecting and pensioning the exiled Douglasses that he unwisely suffered himself to be entangled in the contest between the rival houses of York and Lancaster, and marched for England in 1460 at the head of a powerful army. He laid siege to Roxburgh Castle, which was at that time in the hands of the English, and was killed by the bursting of a cannon.