James OF SCOTLAND, IV KING

                   "James IV, born on 17 March 1473, was 15 when he was forced him to rideto the Battle of Sauchieburn where his father was killed. For the rest ofhis life he wore an iron belt as a penance.

For the first time in a century, Scotland had a king who was able tostart ruling for himself at once for, as Erasmus once commented, 'He hadwonderful powers of mind, an astonishing knowledge of everything, anunconquerable magnanimity and the most abundant generosity.'

He spoke Latin (at that time the international language), French, German,Flemish, Italian, Spanish and some Gaelic, and took an active interest inliterature, science and the law, even trying his hand at dentistry andminor surgery.

With his patronage the printing press came to Scotland, and the RoyalCollege of Surgeons in Edinburgh, St Leonard's College, St Andrews andKing's College, Aberdeen were founded.

He commissioned building work at the royal residences of LinlithgowPalace, Edinburgh Castle and Stirling Castle, and developed a strong navyled by his flagship, the Great Michael, said to be the largest vessel ofthe time.

Under James' vigorous rule, he extended royal administration to the westand north - by 1493, he had overcome the last independent lord of theIsles.

To begin with, relations with England were difficult: in 1495, Jamessupported the pretender Perkin Warbeck in his claim to the Englishthrone. Even so, he was anxious to maintain peace with England andconcluded a peace treaty in 1502.

After the death of his mistress Margaret Drummond, who was poisoned alongwith her sisters, presumably to prevent her from marrying the king, Jamesaccepted Henry VII's offer of his daughter Princess Margaret Tudor as abride.

'The Marriage of the Thistle and the Rose' took place at Holyrood on 8August 1503. Although this match had great significance in the long term(after the death of Elizabeth I of England and the end of the Tudordynasty, the two thrones were inherited by James' and Margaret'sgreat-grandson James I and VI), it did not at once improve Anglo-Scottishrelations.

When Henry VIII joined the Holy Alliance against France, and Englandinvaded France in 1513, James felt that he must assist Scotland's oldally under the 'Auld Alliance'.

He led his army - one of the largest ever to cross the border - south.The English forces, led by Lord Surrey, inflicted a crushing defeat.James and many of his nobles died at the head of his men in thedisastrous Battle of Flodden, three miles south-east of Coldstream,Northumberland on 9 September 1513. "

-- Royal Household

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