A son against his father
On 11 June 1488, King James III of Scotland was killed at or shortly after the Battle of Sauchieburn, fought near Stirling on ground close to the site of Robert the Bruce's great victory at Bannockburn. What made this battle uniquely horrifying was that the rebel army was led — at least nominally — by the king's own fifteen-year-old son, the future James IV.
James III had been an unpopular king. He preferred the company of artists, architects, and musicians to that of his nobles, and he hoarded money rather than spending it on the martial displays that the Scottish aristocracy expected. His attempts to forge closer ties with England were deeply resented by a nobility that still defined itself by opposition to the Auld Enemy. A coalition of discontented lords seized his son and placed the prince at the head of their army as a figurehead of legitimacy.
The battle itself was brief and confused. James III's forces were routed, and the king fled the field on horseback. According to tradition, he was thrown from his horse near Bannockburn Mill and took shelter in a nearby house. He asked for a priest, and a man presented himself claiming to be one. The stranger stabbed the king to death. Whether this account is precisely true, the result was certain: James III was dead, killed by agents of the very nobles who had raised his son against him.
The young James IV was haunted by his father's death for the rest of his life. He wore an iron chain around his waist as a perpetual penance, adding weight to it each year. The guilt may have shaped his character — James IV became one of Scotland's most admired kings, a Renaissance prince who spoke six languages, founded the Royal College of Surgeons, built the Great Michael, and presided over a golden age of Scottish culture. The chain and the guilt stayed with him until Flodden, where he died leading his army from the front — a king determined never again to fail in his duty.