James IV of Scotland
James IV came to the throne at fifteen over the body of his father, killed by the rebels he had ridden with, wore an iron chain against his waist for it the rest of his life, and reigned for twenty-five years as the most able king Scotland had, until he took the largest army the country had raised across the Tweed in September 1513 and died at Flodden with his son, an archbishop, nine earls, and most of the nobility. He was born in 1473, the son of James III, whose favourites the nobles hated, and was the figurehead of the rising that beat and killed the king at Sauchieburn in June 1488. He was crowned at Scone within the month. He spoke Gaelic, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish and German, practised surgery and dentistry on his subjects for a fee he paid them, kept alchemists at Stirling, one of whom tried to fly from the castle walls, founded the college of surgeons and Aberdeen's university, licensed the first Scottish printing press in 1507, and built the Great Michael, the largest warship in Europe, and the palaces of Holyrood and Falkland. He brought the western isles under the crown after the forfeiture of the Lord of the Isles in 1493, took the royal justice into the Highlands in person, and ruled through a council rather than a parliament. In 1503 he married Margaret, the daughter of Henry VII, under a treaty of perpetual peace, the marriage of the thistle and the rose, which is why her great-grandson inherited England a century later. The peace did not survive her brother. Henry VIII went to war with France in 1513, the French invoked the old alliance, and James, having warned Henry and been answered with contempt, crossed the border in August with thirty thousand men and the new artillery, and took the border castles. On 9 September, on Branxton Hill, gave up his position to attack the Earl of Surrey's army downhill with pikes over broken ground. The bills cut the pikes to pieces and the king died within a spear's length of Surrey, fighting on foot. The body went to London and was never buried. His son was seventeen months old.
- Lived: 1473 CE – 1513 CE
- Nationality: Scottish
- Roles: king, monarch
