stop his rival Angus from gaining control over King James V and aimed to secure the regency for himself as the closest blood relative of the late James IV. In addition, Arran had been the Lord Provost of Edinburgh since 1517 but had alienated himself from the Edinburgh burgesses in 1519 over a disputed sale of a cargo of timber from a Dutch ship in Leith. At this time the Burgh of Edinburgh had customs and trading rights over the port of Leith however Arran had sided with the Leith merchants, supported by Robert Barton. Barton was a shipowner of considerable political influence and cited a privilege granted to him by James IV that allowed him to avoid abiding by import and export customs. By ignoring the rights of the Edinburgh burgesses, Arran lost their support and instead they supported the side of Angus during the skirmish. The Skirmish Arran had entered Edinburgh at the head of his retinue of around 500 armed footmen and had based himself at the house of James Beaton, Archbishop of Glasgow at the foot of Blackfriars Wynd in the east of the city, intent on arresting Angus. However Angus was protected by a similar number of armed followers and had based himself at his town house on the West Bow at the other end of the High Street. Tensions were high between the rival factions as a Douglas follower, John Somerville, had recently attacked a party of Hamiltons on the highway and had killed 5 of them, seized 30 of their horses and forced the remainder to flee. A stand off ensued as each armed party attempted to gain ascendancy without wanting to be the one that instigated violence. On hearing of Arran's plan to arrest him, Angus sent his uncle Gavin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld, to mediate with his opponent and "to caution them against violence, and to inform them that if they had anything to allege against him he would be judged by the laws of the realm, and not by men who were his avowed enemies". The Bishop of Dunkeld found that Arran and his party were armed, armoured and intended to fight. Even the Archbishop of Glasgow was wearing a coat of chain mail under his ecclesiastical robes. Dunkeld therefore returned to Angus with the news and retired to the safety of his lodgings to pray. In the meantime, Angus