James IV 1473-1513
King of Scotland

He became king at the age of 15 after the murder of his father James III (1488), and was soon active in government. Much of the early 1490s was taken up with securing recognition for the new regime. As a result his council was composed of a far broader, and more stable, coalition than under his three predecessors. Athletic, warlike and pious, James has been called an ideal medieval king; his reign was probably the epitome and climax of Scottish medieval kingship rather than of new monarchy (he was the last Scottish king to speak Gaelic). His rising status, as a king popular at home and respected abroad, was confirmed by his marriage (1503) to Margaret Tudor, eldest daughter of Henry VII - an alliance which ultimately led to the union of Scotland and England (1603). During his reign, vast sums were spent on building work, as at Stirling Castle, and on military and naval ventures, and in his brilliant Renaissance court he encouraged musicians such as Robert Carver and poets such as William Dunbar. The king's popularity ironically increased the scale of the disaster which ended his life. Despite his new alliance with England, he adhered to his old French alliance when Henry VIII invaded France (1513). He invaded England and was killed at Flodden (1513), when his army of 20,000 men, probably the largest ever in Scotland, was crushed.

Bibliography: R L Mackie, King James IV of Scotland (1958)