Scottish Coins ~ James IV (1488 - 1513)

James IV ascended the throne in 1488 after the death of his father James III in a rebellion of the Earls. It is conjectured that James IV tacitly supported this rebellion, but later sought penance by the wearing of a chain around his waist thereafter. Even at the age of fifteen, James IV was the first monarch to ascend the throne in relative adulthood in quite sometime. By the standards of the day he was remarkably popular, in fact, much more so than previous monarchs in Scotland. It is believed that James IV was secretly bethrothed to Margaret Drummond, but she was poisoned and died in 1502. Subsequent negotiations with Henry VII in England resulted in a marriage treaty with Margaret Tudor, and James IV was married to her by proxy in 1502, and in 1503 at Holyrood Abbey. By all accounts the marriage was successful, but James IV still pursued other woman in earnest.

James IV continued the longtime policy of playing England and France for the upper hand in alliances. When the Pope Julius II declared the French monarch a schismatic for not supporting a crusade against the Turks, James IV found himself supporting Louis XII of France. However this renewed the old conflict with the new monarch of England, Henry VIII. When Henry VIII invaded France in 1513, James IV declared war on England and invaded that country. The resultant battle was a defeat for the Scottish forces led by James IV. It is not accurately known what transpired after the conclusion of the battle, there are numerous conflicting accounts, but James IV was apparently killed in the aftermath. Rumours abounded for many years afterwards that James IV was still alive and had travelled to the Holy Land. The most reliable accounts are that his body was found near the battle scene and was taken to England, whereafter it disappeared.

Numismatically this reign largely continued the previously issued denominations from James III, though curiously the portrait of the monarch reverted from the new renaissance style back to the facing portrait then more typical of English coinages. This reign also saw the further debasement of the coinage and the resultant confusion caused by similar coins of different valuations in circulation. The silver coinage is divided into two classes, the Heavy Coinage of 1489-1496, and the Light Coinage of 1496-1513. Interestingly exceedingly rare patterns exists of gold Angels, and also an extremely rare issue of Maundy Money in 1512.

Denominations used during this reign:

Gold

A unique Angel was struck with the Archangel Michael spearing a dragon on the obverse and a ship with the Scottish crest on the reverse. It was not assigned a value in shillings.

Silver

"Heavy" issue of 1489-1496

"Light" issue of 1496-1513

Billon or copper

This is an example of a plack, with the legend IACOBUS DEI GRA REX SCOTORUM, James by the grace of God, King of Scots. The legend on the reverse is VILLA DE EDINBURGH, Town of Edinburgh. These coins were struck in billon of approximately .250 fine silver, the balance being copper. It is probable that this piece is a contemporary counterfeit. This piece is SJ4PL-010 and S-5349.

This reign saw the elimination of smaller coinages, ie halfpenny and farthings as they were pretty much valueless with the continued debasement of Scottish coinage.

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