Henry Marsh is writing a series of poems on themes treated in the Great Tapestry of Scotland (now on display at the Scottish Parliament).

Here is an abridged version of his account of the tragic defeat and death of James IV, most glittering of the Stewart monarchs, 500 years ago today.

FLODDEN FIELD (September 9, 1513)

Four horsemen came, some say,

passed through their harvest -

September fields, mown limbs

and heads - took up the King

and laid him across a dun hackney.

Did they take him to his account?

For the flesh remained - the surcoat

slashed and bloody - his throat

agape - and round his waist the iron

chain, that penitential burden

for his father slain by Saughie Burn.

And Flodden Field was not without

other portents. As cannon had lumbered

at midnight through Edinburgh a voice

was heard by the Mercat Cross calling

the names of the future dead.

And his Queen pleading - the crown

might pass to their infant son

in a war he need not seek. Admired

among princes, would he hazard

their brilliant court on a venture?

He fought by the etiquette of chivalry,

followed his spearmen down Branxton Hill

through wind and rain, knee

deep in glaur. The burn ran red.

Ten thousand souls they gathered,

the horsemen at their harvest.