593 
ARTILLERY UNDER THE STUART KINGS, 
1434 - 1635 . 
BY 
CHARLES DALTON, ESQ. 
(Editor of i( English Army Lists and Commission Registers, 1661-171 4.”) 
Whatever may be alleged against the Stuarts as men and monarchy, 
it still remains an undeniable fact that they all were, with one notable 
exception, patrons and promoters of the science of artillery which 
made rapid strides during the stormy reigns of the early Stuart 
sovereigns. Fate decreed that one of the Stuart monarchs should 
be killed by thelbursting of one of his own guns at the siege of 
Roxburgh, and that his royal grandson should fall at Flodden; but 
when one considers that two of the Stuart line were assassinated, that 
two were beheaded, that one died of grief at the disgrace which befell 
his rebellious army, and that one died an exile in a foreign land, it 
may be said that the two sovereigns who died with their faces to the 
foe were happy in thenyleaths. 
After a weary captivity of nineteen years in England, James I. 
returned to Scotland in 1424. In addition to his many accomplish¬ 
ments, James was well practised in all martial feats and exercises. 
His companionship with Henry V., who had taken the young Scots 
monarch to France to initiate him in the art of war, was of the 
greatest advantage to James when at last the reins of government fell 
into his capable hands. As a spectator of some of Henry V/s 
victories in France, the King of Scots knew the value of artillery and 
was quick to see that the possessor of “ engines of warcould dictate 
terms to rebellious nobles who retired behind their portcullises and 
bid defiance to their anointed sovereign. 
James imported several large pieces of ordnance from Flanders, one 
of which struck wonder into the heart of the simple-minded Scots 
chronicler, who describes it as “machinam bombardicam appellatam 
Lyoun.” The “ Lion ” did not have much occasion to roar in James 
I/s reign, but it was probably one of the “ engines of war ” brought 
by the King, in 1436, to besiege Roxburgh, which fortress had been 
12 . VOL; XXIV; 78 
