The traditional view of crusading is that the movement ended with the fall of Acre in 1291, the last Latin stronghold on the mainland. This is the interpretation that can be found in Runciman, for example. However, an increasing amount of scholarship over the past several decades has pushed the geographic boundaries of crusading and, since the 1990s in particular, increased its chronological scope. Crusading scholars now write about the Reconquista, the Teutonic Order's wars in the Baltic (13th to 16th centuries), and the Hospitallers in the Mediterranean (1291-1798) to name but a few, as well as the traditional Holy Land campaigns.

The crusade label has been applied to events as 'late' as the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 and to Poland's expedition to lift the siege of Vienna in 1683. Christopher Columbus' voyages to the Americas have also been tied into crusading, the explorer seemingly planning to use the wealth of India to fund a new expedition to Jerusalem. At a major medieval conference last week a panel of crusade scholars even discussed the role of crusading in the context of the Spanish conquests of Mexico and Peru.

In regard to Scotland, Scots had been participating in crusades since the First Crusade of 1096-9, when Lagmann, King of Man and Lord of the Isles, went to the East. Scottish crusaders continued to appear in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, joining almost all of the major Holy Land crusades. In the fourteenth century they could also be found fighting in Spain (James Douglas' Crusade) or in the Baltic. However, by the fifteenth century this fervour had dissipated. The Teutonic Order's defeat by the Lithuanians and Polish at Tannenberg in 1410 ended foreign crusading there almost immediately. There were occasional Scots going to the East or to Spain, including the unknown bearers of James I's heart, en route to the Holy Sepulchre. In the 1450s and 60s there were Scots fighting the Turks in Greece and there may have even been a Scottish engineer in the Genoese contigent at the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

By the late fifteenth century this trickle of crusaders had grown even smaller, though there were still Scots going on crusade. In 1479 Patrick Menzies vowed to go on crusade but he fell ill upon reaching Rome and was released from his obligation. There was also at least one Scottish knight at the fall of Granada in 1492 which marked the end of Muslim Spain: John Seton of Newburgh. This waning interest still persisted in many European monarchs as well, including James IV of Scotland and the 'Great Michael' was built to serve in his planned crusade.

The late fifteenth and early sixteenth century continued to see the growing power of the Ottoman Empire, prompting European rulers and writers to consider the proposing a new crusade. Charles VIII of France considered using his invasion of Italy in 1494-5 as a stepping stone to the East. A Scottish poem from 1509, The Ship of Fools by Alexander Barclay, exhorts Henry VIII of England to work with James IV for a new crusade:

"And ye christen Prynces who so euir ye be, If ye be destytute of a noble Captayne, Take Iamys of Scotlande for his audacyte And proued manhode; if ye will laude attayne Let hym haue the forwarde, haue ye no disdayne Nor indignacion, for neuir kynge was borne That of ought of warre can shew the unycorne.

[...]

If the Englisshe Lyon his wysdome and ryches Conioyne with true loue, peas and fydelyte With the Scottish vnycornes myght and hardynes, Than is no dout but all hole Christente Shal liue in peas wealth and tranquylyte; And the holy londe come into christen hondes And mony a regyon out of the fendes bondes"

Initially James seems to have wanted a peaceful pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In 1508 he wrote to the French king after meeting with a French knight that had returned from Jerusalem. That year the bishop of Dunkeld, George Brown, made a gift to James of supplies for his journey, and one of the Knights Hospitaller, George Dundas, arrived in Scotland. James wrote to the master of the Hospitallers enthusing about the Order's war with the Turks. In 1509 the king wrote to the Pope, saying that he had heard of plans for a new expedition and asked if he needed to be ready to leave the next year. James was told by the Pope that the Venetians would play a major role in the expedition and so the king spent the first half of 1510 lobbying unsuccessfully to be given the post of captain-general of Venice's fleet.

However, conflicts in Europe threatened to prevent the crusade, as had happened so often in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. France was now opposed by the Venetians and the Pope, leading James to playing peacemaker. He sent an ambassador to France and Rome in 1510. The ambassador, Andrew Forman bishop of Moray, also presented plans for the crusade to the French king Louis XII, and reminded him of his promise that James would lead the expedition. James' attempts failed and discord between the crusade's leaders continued. The king appears to have been manipulated by France and the Papacy, with neither seriously considering his proposals. In 1512 the Pope asked James to join his anti-French Holy Alliance (which included England, the Papacy, Spain, and Venice), saying that after defeating France the league would turn to fighting the Turks.

Scotland's relations with England also deteriorated, again stymieing plans for an expedition. James renewed Scotland's traditional alliance with France in 1512 and Henry VIII complained in Rome the following year that James had no wish or ability to lead a crusade. The new Pope, Leo X, backed the English and showed little regard for James' plans. James continued to back the French, showing the English ambassador in Edinburgh a promise signed by Louis XII pledging soldiers, guns, and ships, and a levy of a tenth on all his kingdom for the crusade once France was at peace. James even said he would go to the mythical Prester John if Leo X would not help him, but this was probably a joke.

The king's plans all came to nothing. Driven by French pressure and English antagonism, James IV sent eleven ships to Brittany to support the French. Venice's network of informers claimed that part of this fleet had been built for the crusade, referring to the 'Great Michael'. With his crusade fleet now fighting the English on the continent, James marched into England with his army and was killed at the battle of Flodden on 9th September 1513. Scottish royal interest in the crusade ended that day. James clearly did consider this crusade seriously, almost obsessively so. Other rulers like Pope Julius II also seem to have considered, as did Louis XII, but as had happened so often in earlier centuries, conflict between Christian rulers in the West managed to trump concerns about the more distant East.

A rumour spread soon after Flodden that the king had survived but was wounded. He had left Scotland and gone to the Holy Land to become a hermit. A fantasy but one demonstrating the king's perceived dedication to retaking Jerusalem.

Sources:

Carol Lowery Delaney, Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem (2012).

Norman Housley, The Later Crusades (1992). This is still the key text on crusading after 1291.

Alan Macquarrie, Scotland and the Crusades, 1095-1560 (1997). The only full study on Scottish crusading.