James V. (1513-42), who was born on the 10th of April 1512, ascended the throne at a most critical period; for, though contrary to expectation the Earl of Surrey did not invade Scotland, the kingdom was torn by intestine feuds between rival factions. The queen-dowager, headstrong and passionate, was appointed regent. About eight months after the king's death she gave birth to a son, who died in infancy; and four months later she married the young Earl of Angus, head of the Douglas family. Her marriage put an end to her regency, and the Duke of Albany, son of the younger brother of James III., was invited from France and chosen in her room. Amid the contentions of the rival French and English factions, and the private quarrels of the nobles, the country was reduced to a state of almost total anarchy. The intrigues of Henry contributed not a little to foment the prevailing disorders. Albany, who insisted on revisiting France, returned after the lapse of a few months to find the Hamiltons and Douglasses at open war; and, after vain efforts to assert the authority of the government, he obtained permission in the beginning of 1524 to revisit France for a limited period, but did not return. Meanwhile the young king had been placed under the care of the poet Sir David Lyndsay, who instructed him in all manly and liberal accomplishments; but his mother interrupted his education, and, with the assistance of her brother Henry VIII. in 1524, when James had reached his thirteenth year, put him at the head of the government in order that she and her faction might misgovern the kingdom in his name. She had now become tired of her husband, and after a good deal of difficulty she succeeded in obtaining a divorce from him, and married young Henry Stewart, a son of Lord Avondale. In the following year the custody of the young king fell into the hands of the Douglasses, who kept him a close prisoner until he made his escape in 1528, and assumed the position of an independent sovereign. He displayed great firmness and resolution in carrying out his judicious policy, though unfortunately his morals had been deeply injured by the manner in which the base sycophants of the court had pandered to his passions. He expelled from the kingdom the Douglasses, who had entered into a traitorous league with England, severely punished the Border freebooters, chastised the insurgent Highlanders, renewed the ancient commercial treaty between Scotland and the Netherlands, instituted the College of Justice, and took measures to protect the peasantry against the tyranny of the barons. His sympathy with the common people and his habit of visiting their houses in disguise procured for him the designation of 'the king of the commons.' In 1536 James undertook a voyage to France, and on the 1st of January 1537 he was married to Magdalene, daughter of Francis I., who, however, died in the following July. In June 1538 James married Mary of Guise, widow of the Duke of Longueville and sister of the Duke of Guise.
Meanwhile the principles of the reformed faith were making progress in Scotland, and Henry VIII. tried to induce his nephew to follow his ecclesiastical policy and to repudiate the authority of the papal see. But James, though he looked with a severe eye upon the overgrown wealth, idleness, and corruption of the clergy, found it necessary to rely on their support in order to reduce the exorbitant power of the nobles. The bishops on their part strove to bring about a rupture with England. With the hope of gaining over his nephew to adopt his policy, Henry invited the Scottish king to meet him at York in the autumn of 1541, and waited there six days for him. But James was induced to break his engagement, and the proud temper of the English monarch fired at the insult. Other causes of offence arose, and war broke out between the two countries in 1542. An army of 30,000 men under the Duke of Norfolk were ordered to invade Scotland; but the attempt ended in nothing. A Scottish army levied to oppose the invaders advanced as far as Fala; the nobles, however, while willing to support James within the kingdom, refused to follow him beyond the frontier. Another army was shortly after levied by the exertions of the clergy; but the command of this army having been unwisely given by the king to a favourite named Oliver Sinclair, the nobles again refused to act. While the Scottish army thus disputed, a body of English Borderers fell upon and completely routed them at Solway Moss, taking many prisoners. James was completely overwhelmed by this shameful discomfiture, and fell into a state of the deepest despondency. He retired to Falkland Palace attacked by a slow fever which no skill could remove, and he died there 14th December 1542, in the thirty-first year of his age. He left one legitimate child, the ill-fated Mary, who was only a few days old at his death, and six natural children, one of whom was the celebrated Regent Moray. See Bapst, Les Mariages de Jacques V. (1889).