#jamesiv

On July 8, 1503, Princess Margaret Tudor said farewell to her father, Henry VII of England, as she departed England for Edinburgh to marry James IV of Scotland. The marriage was arranged to strengthen peace between England and Scotland and would later have a profound impact on the future of the British monarchy.

It was a very good thing COFFEE was not a thing yet, in Western Europe!!! What would he have been like under the influence of a good stiff cappucino???

On July 11, 1488, James IV of Scotland became king following the dramatic events surrounding the Battle of Sauchieburn, where his father, James III, was defeated and killed. The 15-year-old prince inherited a troubled kingdom divided by conflict between supporters of the crown and powerful nobles who had rebelled against his father’s rule.

On July 5, 1503, King Henry VII and his court arrived at Collyweston in Northamptonshire to formally see off his daughter, Princess Margaret Tudor. The occasion marked a deeply symbolic moment in Tudor diplomacy, as Margaret prepared to leave England to marry King James IV of Scotland, a union designed to secure peace between the long-hostile kingdoms of England and Scotland.

1491: James IV of Scotland ordered that a wappenschaw take place four times a year, the first to be on midsummer. A wappenschaw is an inspection of men able to fight in a certain area, to show that they were properly armed. There were specific requirements for men of different stations:

“that each gentleman who has £10 worth of land or more is adequately furnished and armed with a basinet, sallet, metal hat, gorget or pisane, whole leg harness, sword, spear and dagger; and gentlemen who have a small amount of land or [are] unlanded shall be armed as far as possible according to the view and discretion of the sheriffs... and honest yeomen with sufficient power who choose to be men of arms shall be sufficiently furnished according to the discretion of the said sheriffs or commissioners; and all other yeomen of the realm between sixteen and sixty [years of age] shall have sufficient bows and sheaves, sword, buckler, knife, spear or good axe instead of the bow...”

Men who were not properly equipped were fined, with the amount of money increasing for each wappenschaw they ‘failed’.

James IV clearly wanted his people to be ready for fighting. Why play games when you should be learning archery?

This is another of Henry VII's achievements, along with King James IV of Scotland.  They signed the Treaty of Perpetual Peace in 1502, part of which was that James married Henry's daughter Margaret.

The English throne passed to Henry VIII in 1509, then to his children Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth I.  When Elizabeth died in 1603, there were no surviving descendants of Henry VIII.  The English throne therefore passed to the great grandson of Margaret and James IV of Scotland.  Thus James VI of Scotland became James I of England.

As a footnote, the political Acts of Union did not take place until 1707, 104 years after the thrones were unified.