Editing James IV of Scotland (section)

== Early life ==
{{Multiple image|image1=Hugo van der Goes - The Trinity Altarpiece - James III of Scotland accompanied by his son James, presented by St Andrew (cropped).jpg|image2=Margaret of Scotland (1469) by Hugo van der Goes.jpg|total_width=350|footer=James IV's parents, [[King James III]] and [[Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland|Margaret of Denmark]]}}

Born on 17 March 1473 at [[Stirling Castle]], James was the eldest son of [[King James III]] and [[Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland|Margaret of Denmark]].<ref>MacDougall, ''Margaret of Denmark'', ODNB</ref> As [[heir apparent]] to the Scottish crown, he became [[Duke of Rothesay]] at birth. James probably spent most of his infancy and youth at Stirling Castle in the care of his mother, along with his two younger brothers, [[James Stewart, Duke of Ross|James]] and [[John Stewart, Earl of Mar (died 1503)|John]]. In 1478, Queen Margaret was officially entrusted with the custody and education of the Duke of Rothesay.<ref>Macdougall, Norman, ''James IV'', p. 1.</ref> Not much is known about James's early life, but it is known that he received a good education from Archibald Whitelaw, the [[humanist]] scholar and [[Secretary of State (Kingdom of Scotland)|secretary of state]], and the [[theologian]] [[John Ireland (theologian)|John Ireland]], under the direction of his mother. In addition to [[Scots language|Scots]], James became fluent in [[Latin]] and [[Spanish language|Spanish]], also learned [[French language|French]], [[German language|German]], [[Flemish dialects|Flemish]] and [[Italian language|Italian]], and was the last Scottish monarch known to have spoken [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]].<ref name="british-history.ac.uk">[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=93390 ''Calendar of State Papers, Spain'' (1485–1509), volume 1 (1862), No. 210, English translation from Spanish]: See original letter at [http://pares.mcu.es/ParesBusquedas/servlets/ImageServlet?accion=41&txt_id_imagen=2&txt_rotar=0&txt_contraste=0&txt_zoom=10&appOrigen=&cabecera=N Archivo General de Simancas, PTR, LEG,52, DOC.166 – 857V – Imagen Núm: 2 / 26] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190122044209/http://pares.mcu.es/ParesBusquedas/servlets/ImageServlet?accion=41&txt_id_imagen=2&txt_rotar=0&txt_contraste=0&txt_zoom=10&appOrigen=&cabecera=N |date=22 January 2019}}</ref> The surviving exchequer records show that Prince James was taken from Stirling to visit [[Edinburgh]] in the summers of 1474 and 1479, and that his nurse in the 1470s was Agnes Turing, the wife of an Edinburgh burgess.<ref name=doug2>Macdougall, Norman, ''James IV'', p. 2.</ref>

In October 1474, James III agreed a peace treaty with [[Edward IV of England]], the foundation of which was to be a marriage between Prince James and Edward's daughter, [[Cecily of York]], when they both reached marriageable age.<ref>{{cite book |title=Scottish Queens, 1034–1714 |last=Marshall |first=Rosalind K. |page=85 |year=2003 |publisher=Tuckwell Press}}</ref><ref name=doug12>Macdougall, Norman, ''James IV'', pp. 1–2.</ref> The treaty marked the beginning of James III's pursuit of friendship with England, a policy which was unpopular in Scotland. This policy would see further prospective English brides proposed for his son: [[Anne de la Pole]] (niece of [[Richard III of England]]) in 1484 and an unspecified daughter of Edward IV in 1487.<ref name=doug12 /> James III was an unpopular king: he faced two major rebellions during his reign, and alienated members of his close family, especially his younger brother, [[Alexander, Duke of Albany]]. James III's unpopular pro-English policy rebounded badly upon him when the peace with England broke down in 1480. This led to the invasion of Scotland and [[English invasion of Scotland (1482)|capture of Berwick]] in 1482 by [[Richard III of England|Richard, Duke of Gloucester]], in the company of the Duke of Albany. When James III attempted to lead his army against the invasion, his army rebelled against him and he was briefly imprisoned by his own councillors. During James III's imprisonment, Albany visited Queen Margaret and the young Duke of Rothesay at Stirling Castle to discuss the crisis with them.<ref>Macdougall, Norman, ''James IV'', pp. 5–7.</ref>

[[File:Stirling Castle dsc06628.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.36|[[Stirling Castle]], James IV's birthplace and childhood home]]

For the nine-year-old heir to the throne, the crisis of 1482 had shattered the calm of his youthful existence at Stirling.<ref name=doug2 /> Following the death of Margaret of Denmark in July 1486, Prince James may have viewed the king's deliberate promotion of his second son — the 1486 and 1487 proposals to marry him to one of the younger daughters of Edward IV of England, and the conferring on him of the [[Duke of Ross|dukedom of Ross]] in January 1488 — with apprehension. There is no explanation of why James III seemed to be favouring his second son over his heir, although it has been suggested that James III's suspicion and distrust of his heir arose from the young Duke of Rothesay's meeting with the Duke of Albany during the 1482 crisis.<ref>Macdougall, Norman, ''James IV'', p. 13.</ref>

On 2 February 1488, the Duke of Rothesay departed from Stirling Castle, without the king's knowledge. This defection saw the start of another major rebellion against James III, led by the earls of [[Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus|Angus]] and [[Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll|Argyll]], and the [[Clan Home|Home]] and Hepburn families. [[Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie|Pitscottie]] claimed that the prince defected as he had heard that his father was approaching Stirling with a large army to imprison him.<ref>Macdougall, Norman, ''James IV'', p. 24.</ref> The prince became the figurehead of the rebels, who claimed that they had removed him from Stirling to protect him from his vindictive father, who had surrounded himself with wicked Anglophile counsellors.<ref>Macdougall, Norman, ''James IV'', p. 39.</ref> Like Prince James, many of the rebels also feared for their safety if James III continued to rule.<ref>Macdougall, Norman, ''James IV'', p. 40.</ref> Matters came to a head on 11 June 1488, when the royal and rebel armies fought outside Stirling at the [[Battle of Sauchieburn]]. The royal army was defeated and James III was killed during the battle, though several later sources claimed that the Duke of Rothesay had forbidden any man to harm his father.<ref>Mackie, R.L., ''James IV'', (1958), pp. 36–44.</ref><ref>Goodwin, George. ''Fatal Rivalry: Flodden 1513'', New York: WW Norton, 2013. pp. 9–10.</ref> James IV bore intense guilt for the indirect role which he had played in the death of his father. He decided to do [[penance]] for his sin, constantly wearing an iron belt around his waist, next to the skin, to which he added weight every year throughout his life.<ref>Macdougall, Norman, ''James IV'', p. 53.</ref><ref>[[Lindsay of Pitscottie]], Robert, ''The History of Scotland'', Robert Freebairn, Edinburgh (1778), p. 149.</ref>