'O Wretched King!': Ireland, Denmark–Norway, and kingship in the reign of James V

Citation

Cathcart A (2023) 'O Wretched King!': Ireland, Denmark–Norway, and kingship in the reign of James V. In: Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer.

Abstract
This chapter explores James V as an imperial monarch by taking the 1540 expedition as a starting point. During this expedition James undertook a circumnavigation of his realm, and thus has been regarded as a symbol of James' assertion of his imperium, the chapter examines in greater depth the local and international contexts for the expedition. In doing so it will move beyond the all-too-familiar stomping ground of Scotland’s relations with England and France, to the neighbouring realms of Ireland and Denmark-Norway, while also suggesting that however tempted James may have been to expand his empire, by interfering in a kingdom under another monarch’s jurisdiction, he neither wanted to set a precedent nor to tempt fate.