James IV and the Scottish Renaissance 1488-1513
 |
James IV, the most popular of the Stewart kings, was 15 when he came to the throne. His mistresses bore him a number of bastards. His reign brought a Renaissance to Scotland: the arts and education blossomed and James led the way. He authorized the building of beautiful palaces and churches. His court was elegant and cultured and the country was at peace, growing in prosperity. But the peace was not absolute: on the doorstep the Lords of the Isles continued to fight as they always had, fiercely patriarchal, their loyalties all directed to their own clans and chieftains. James who had taken the trouble to learn Gaelic, decided to visit the Western Highlands and Islands, hoping to win the friendship of the clans. His attempts were viewed with suspicion, thus he desisted and appointed overlords to rule them. This resulted in an uprising of the Macdonalds and the Macleans in 1503 when they stormed Inverness and burned it to the ground. |
In 1503,James married 12-year-old Margaret Tudor and signed a treaty of perpetual peace with England. But in 1511, his brother-in-law, Henry VIII of England, joined the pope, the King of Spain and the Doge of Venice in a Holy League against France. James passionately desired a united Europe. Determined to maintain a balance of power, therefore, he renewed the Auld Alliance with France and tried, in vain, to mediate.
In 1513, threatened from all directions, France appealed to Scotland for help. James in turn appealed to Henry, who replied with insults. Against all advice, in August 1513, James led a Scottish army across the Tweed, to Flodden Field, where the army was massacred by the superior forces of the English. The king, his nobles and most of Scotland's best men were killed in a battle that was as pointless as it was valiant: it was perhaps Scotland's greatest tragedy. The country was left leaderless, its army slain, its new king James V, a toddler and the regent, Margaret Tudor, with divided loyalties.
Back...
|
|
|
 |
 |
