James IV of Scotland (the Stirling Head on the left) became king when his father, James III, was killed at the Battle of Sauchieburn (by his own nobles) in 1488. At that time James IV was only 15 and the rebels who did away with his father planned to put him on the throne – with James IV’s agreement. The family relationships could only be described as strained. Our boy was a Renaissance Prince who spoke not only Scots and Gaelic but eight other languages. He’d been engaged to Cecily of York before the death of Edward IV. The proposed union was one of the factors that led to James III’s murder. It meant that when Henry Tudor approached the subject of a union with his own eldest daughter, Margaret Tudor (Stirling head far right), that James IV, was somewhat reticent in the first instant.
Eventually, after the difficulties arising from James’ support of Perkin Warbeck, Margaret’s youth, Lady Margaret Beaufort’s concerns about the Scottish king’s reputation with the ladies and problems over the size of Margaret’s dowry, Scottish envoys – headed by the Archbishop of Glasgow- finally arrived in England at the end of 1501 where they celebrated Christmas before signing the Treaty of Perpetual Peace on 24 January 1502. Margaret’s official betrothal to James took place the following day with Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Bothwell acting as the king’s proxy.
On 27 June 1503, Margaret departed from Richmond Palace for her grandmother’s home at Collyweston near Stamford. From there she travelled north in the care of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey and his wife Agnes. The newly weds met for the first time at Dalkeith before Margaret made her entry to Edinburgh and her new home at Holyrood. James, who was quite frankly a bit of a charmer, wooed his new wife and showed her every consideration. He understood the importance of romance but recognised also the necessity of courting his wife until she was of an age to bear his heir. After their wedding, he gifted his new bride with Kilmarnock and cut off his beard which Margaret did not much like. From Holyrood Margaret travelled to Linlithgow and Stirling.
Stirling had been James IV’s childhood home and it was he who turned the castle into a Renaissance palace. Margaret discovered now, if she hadn’t known before, that her husband’s illegitimate daughter, Margaret Stewart was housed in the royal nursery at Stirling along with her numerous half-siblings. The queen did not react well. Margaret Stewart was sent off to Edinburgh Castle with her household. Alexander Stewart, whose mother was Marion Boyd, would be sent off on a European tour to complete his education in preparation for his life in the Church. he was made Archbishop of St Andrews when he was 11-years-old. The boy would be tutored by Erasmus at Padua.
Margaret celebrated her fourteenth birthday at Linlithgow. By then the household of ladies that she had known since childhood had been largely dismissed and returned to England. The entertainments were lavish and her husband attentive but it would be more than two years until Margaret became a mother. By then James’ brother and heir, the Duke of Ross (also named James), was dead. Margaret’s son, James (quelle surprise) was born on 21 February 1507. Margaret had fulfilled her duty as a queen in providing her husband with an heir but her happiness was cut short when the baby died the following year at Stirling. She would go on to provide her husband with a daughter who died soon after her birth the same year. After that Margaret became pregnant almost every year during her marriage to James. James IV’s eventual heir, another James, was born in 1512 (Stirling Head in the middle)
Important treaties between countries were usually sealed with a marriage between the two parties. The subsequent children of the union were thought to strengthen the bond between nations. Marriage was a political transaction forging ties that would endure between nations.