James V was King of Scotland for most of his life, inheriting the throne when he was 17 months old and dying as the reigning monarch during war with England.

He was born on April 10, 1512, at Linlithgow Palace in the town of the same name. His father was the reigning monarch, King James IV, and his mother was Margaret Tudor, the oldest daughter of King Henry VII and the sister of the current English monarch, King Henry VIII. The royal Scottish couple had had three children by this time, none of whom survived very long.

The king and queen had married as part of a peace agreement between their two countries. When Henry VIII went to war in France in 1513, that country's king, Louis XII, activated the Auld Alliance, a mutual defense agreement between France and Scotland, and James IV responded by invading England. English and Scottish forces met at the Battle of Flodden Field, near Branxton, Northumberland, on Sept. 9, 1513. The English forces won the day, and among the nobility and other dead that day was King James himself.

The new King James was 17 months old when he was crowned, on Sept. 21, 1513, at Stirling Castle. His mother, Margaret, served as regent for a time, but a good number of Scottish nobles wanted John Stewart, Duke of Albany to be the regent. This Duke of Albany was the grandson of King James II and, as the infant king's closest male relative, was the heir apparent. A brief civil war ended with Albany's triumph, and Margaret fled to England.

Margaret returned to Scotland in 1517 and later married Archibald Douglas. When Margaret and Douglas had a falling out, Douglas kidnapped the young king and kept him hostage for three years. (James had proclaimed himself age just the year before.) James escaped in 1528 and took his revenge on his stepfather, sending him into exile and taking his family lands. Also that year, James, an adherent of the Catholic faith, ordered the execution of Patrick Hamilton, a prominent Protestant.

France and Scotland agreed to the Treaty of Rouen in 1517; as part of the terms of that treaty, Scottish nobles promised that the young king would marry a French princess. That turned out to be Madeleine of Valois, whose father was King François I of France. They were married on Jan. 1, 1537 at Notre Dame Cathedral. Madeleine was young and in poor health. The royal couple spent a few months in France and then traveled to Scotland in June. Madeleine fell ill and died in July; she was 16.

James married again a year later, by proxy, to Marie of Guise, whose father was Claude of Lorraine, Duke of Guise. Marie was a widowed mother. The two were married in person at St. Andrews on June 12, 1538. They had three children, one of whom survived to adulthood (Mary, born in 1542).

James was known as a keen lute player and singer and as a patron of poets, much like his father had been. He also had a bit of a fondness for the common people. He came to be known as the "King of the Commons," partly because he was fond of traveling around his kingdom in disguise, as the Gudeman of Ballengeich, or the "farmer of the road."

James's mother, Margaret Tudor, died in 1541. England and France went to war, and Scotland once again sided with France. The English king, Henry VIII, sent a force north, and the two armies clashed several times, with a final battle on Nov. 24, 1542, at the Battle of Solway Moss. The English victory was a resounding one, a disaster for the Scottish, even they had far superior numbers. James was so despondent after the defeat that he hid himself away, refusing to attend the birth of his daughter, Mary, on December 8. James died on December 14, at Falkland Palace, in Fife. He was 30. His young daughter succeeded him on the throne.