of Henry IV.; and though Rothesay wedded the daughter of the Earl of
Douglas, he was arrested by Albany and Douglas and was starved to death
(or died of dysentery) in Falkland Castle (1402). The Highlanders had
been in anarchy throughout the reign; their blood was let in the great
clan duel of thirty against thirty, on the Inch of Perth, in 1396.
Probably clans Cameron and Chattan were the combatants.

On Rothesay's death Albany was Governor, while Douglas was taken prisoner
in the great Border defeat of Homildon Hill, not far from Flodden. But
then (1403) came the alliance of Douglas with Percy; Percy's quarrel with
Henry IV. and their defeat; and Hotspur's death, Douglas's capture at
Shrewsbury. Between Shakespeare, in "Henry IV.," and Scott, in 'The Fair
Maid of Perth,' the most notable events in the reign of Robert III. are
immortalised. The King's last misfortune was the capture by the English
at sea, on the way to France, of his son James in February-March 1406.
{52} On April 4, 1406, Robert went to his rest, one of the most unhappy
of the fated princes of his line.



THE REGENCY OF ALBANY.


The Regency of Albany, uncle of the captured James, lasted for fourteen
years, ending with his death in 1420. He occasionally negotiated for his
king's release, but more successfully for that of his son Murdoch. That
James suspected Albany's ambition, and was irritated by his conduct,
appears in his letters, written in Scots, to Albany and to Douglas,
released in 1408, and now free in Scotland. The letters are of 1416.