He was crowned on 21 September at the age of seventeen months. During his childhood Scotland was governed by regents , firstly by his mother until she remarried, and then by his first cousin once removed, John Stewart, Duke of Albany. James's personal rule began in when he finally escaped the custody of his stepfather, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus.
His first action was to exile Angus and confiscate the lands of the Douglases. James greatly increased his income by tightening control over royal estates and from the profits of justice, customs and feudal rights. He founded the College of Justice in and also acted to end lawlessness and rebellion in the Borders and the Hebrides. The rivalry among France , England and the Holy Roman Empire lent James unwonted diplomatic weight, and saw him secure two politically and financially advantageous French marriages, first to Madeleine of Valois and then to Mary of Guise.
James also fathered at least nine illegitimate children by a series of mistresses. James's reign witnessed the beginnings of Protestantism in Scotland, and his uncle Henry VIII of England 's break with Rome in the s placed James in a powerful bargaining position with the papacy , allowing James to exploit the situation to increase his control over ecclesiastical appointments and the financial dividends from church revenues.
James maintained diplomatic correspondence with various Irish nobles and chiefs throughout their resistance to Henry VIII in the s, and in they offered him the kingship of Ireland.
A patron of the arts, James spent lavishly on the construction of several royal residences in the High Gothic and Renaissance styles. James has been described as a vindictive king, whose policies were largely motivated by the pursuit of wealth, and a paranoid fear of his nobility which led to the ruthless appropriation of their lands. He has also been characterised as the "poor man's king", due to his accessibility to the poor and his acting against their oppressors. His only surviving legitimate child, Mary , succeeded him at the age of just six days old.
