On 3 August 1460, 29-year-old James II was killed during the siege of the English-held Roxburgh Castle when a cannon he was standing near exploded while firing. The Auchinleck Chronicle recorded that James “was slane with ane gun the quhilk brak in the fyring, for the quhilk was gret dolour throu all Scotland.” Taking advantage of the civil war in England, James’s forces had seized the town of Roxburgh before laying siege to the castle. James II was succeeded by his eight-year-old son James, who was crowned at Kelso Abbey on 10 August. Sources:The Auchinleck Chronicle (Ane Schort Memoriale of the Scottis Corniklis for Addicioun), p 57.