Albany, John Stewart, 2nd duke of
oxford
views updated May 14 2018Albany, John Stewart, 2nd duke of [S] (1484–1536). When James IV of
Scotland was killed at
Flodden in 1513, his son was 17 months old. Albany, a grandson of James II, was heir presumptive. His father had laid claim to the Scottish throne but was defeated and fled to
France. Albany was summoned to become regent to his young cousin and held office from 1515 until 1524. Bred in France, Albany strove to restore the
Franco-Scottish alliance and by the treaty of
Rouen (1517) negotiated marriage for James V to a French princess. From 1517 to 1521 Albany was in France, weakening his Scottish position. In 1521 he effected a reconciliation with
Margaret, the king's mother and sister to Henry VIII, and there were rumours of a possible marriage. In 1522 Henry VIII went to war, protesting that the king's life was in jeopardy, but Albany's grand preparations came to nothing. He resumed the contest in 1523 but again the campaign against northern
England misfired, and he returned to France for good in 1524. The enduring legacy of his regency was a French marriage for James, though it did not take place until 1537.
J. A. Cannon
The Oxford Companion to British History JOHN CANNON
Albany Regency
gale
views updated May 23 2018ALBANY REGENCY
ALBANY REGENCY. In the early 1820s, New York "Bucktail" Republicans led by Martin Van Buren fashioned an organization to impose discipline on their faction-ridden, personality-dominated state party. Dubbed the "Albany Regency," their apparatus became famous, and notorious, as the prototypical political machine, using caucuses and patronage to control its ranks and rewarding loyalty with political promotion. The organization backed Andrew Jackson for president in 1828 and affiliated with the Jackson-led national Democratic Party. It elevated Van Buren to national stature along with New York senators William L. Marcy (spokesman for the political Spoils System) and Silas Wright. It lost its dominance in state politics with the rise of the Whigs and dissolved into factions in the 1840s.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Remini, Robert V. Martin Van Buren and the Making of the Democratic Party. New York: Columbia University Press, 1959.
DanielFeller
Dictionary of American History Feller, Daniel
