James IV

James IV ruled Scotland from 1488 to 1513 and became one of the most energetic Renaissance monarchs in northern Europe. He strengthened royal justice, supported shipbuilding, artillery, education and printing, and maintained a court interested in medicine and science. His marriage to Margaret Tudor created the dynastic link that eventually united the crowns. Bound by alliance with France, James invaded England and was killed with many nobles at Flodden.

Jean Plaidy’s The Thistle and the Rose fictionalises James’s marriage to Margaret Tudor and the political world of his court. He also appears in Scottish historical novels by Nigel Tranter and in fiction about Flodden. Writers are drawn to the contrast between his cultivated kingship and the catastrophic decision to fight a major battle that destroyed much of Scotland’s political leadership.

In Alison Weir’s The Pretender’s Wife, Recognised by James IV as England’s rightful king, Catherine’s husband hopes to overthrow Henry VII and restore the House of York. In Griff Hosker’s Tudor Warrior, James of Ecclestone is one such youth and when he runs away to become a billman fighting the Yorkist pretender, Lambert Simnel, he begins a journey that will shape him from a youth to a man, a wild child to a Tudor… Other novels featuring James IV include Griff Hosker’s Tudor Spy and Philippa Gregory’s Three Sisters, Three Queens.

In non-fiction, James IV is discussed in Linda Porter’s Crown of Thistles. In Linda Porter’s Crown of Thistles, Linda Porter traces the dynastic contest between the Tudor and Stewart royal houses from the victories that placed Henry VII on the English throne and James IV on the Scottish throne.