In May 1511, Margaret Tudor (1489–1541), queen of James IV of Scotland (1473–1513), was welcomed into the royal burgh of Aberdeen with a visually stunning triumphal entry. The commemorative poem Blyth Aberdein (Rejoice Aberdeen, 1511) by court poet William Dunbar (1460–1520) is the only detailed account of the entry and it mentions the oversized figure of a giant among the pageants and spectacles devised by the civic organizers. In Dunbar's words, “And next the Bruce, who was always fearless in battle / [is called and] comes forward riding as a crowned King / supremely aweinspiring, physically powerful, and [represented] with a massive physique / as a renowned, fearsome, almighty champion.” The large-bodied character was the warrior nobleman Robert the Bruce (1274–1329), who led the Scots to victory in the First War of Scottish Independence (1296–1328) against England before being crowned king in 1306. The Bruce thus came to represent Scottish proud national identity and the right to self-government, and the royal House of Stewart, of which James IV himself was part, descended directly from the Bruce.

Scholars of Scottish spectacle have acknowledged that the Bruce as he appeared in Aberdeen in 1511 was a giant, rationalizing his size as representative of his towering role in Scottish identity, as a larger-than-life national hero.