James IV Crowned at Scone

1488

The fifteen-year-old son, wearing his penitential iron chain, was crowned King of Scots. He would become one of Scotland's ablest medieval monarchs, building ships, founding universities, negotiating marriage alliances, and dying at Flodden in 1513 along with most of his nobility. The iron chain he wore was penance for his role in the rebellion that killed his father, a guilt shaping his pious reign.