Scotland
Though only a small and poor kingdom on the far edge of Europe, Scotland remained in close touch with Renaissance ideas and culture. This connection came in part from trade relations with France, the Low Countries*, and the Baltic states and in part from the readiness of Scots to travel and study abroad. Scottish political and cultural leaders worked hard to combat the popular image of Scots as ferocious barbarians constantly at war with one another. As a result of their efforts, Scotland became a center of humanist* learning and thought.
The Stuart Dynasty. Since 1371 the STUART DYNASTY had struggled to impose its authority over Scotland, a country divided geographically and politically into many small regions ruled by powerful local lords. However, by the late 1400s, after years of warfare the power of the regional lords was mostly broken. The Stuart monarchs then began to seek marriage alliances with foreign powers to increase their influence abroad. Perhaps the most significant of these marriages occurred in 1503, when James IV (ruled 1488–1513) wed Margaret Tudor, daughter of King HENRY VII of England. One hundred years later, Scotland's James VI would use this tie to claim the English throne as JAMES I and unite the two kingdoms.
Before the marriage of James IV and Margaret Tudor, Scotland and England had a long history of hostile relations. Defending Scotland against English aggression was considered one of the key roles of Scottish kings. Many Scots viewed the marriage as a betrayal of the crown's traditional loyalties. Nevertheless, Scotland remained allied with France, another long-time adversary of the English. The French king Louis XII called on James to fulfill the obligations of their alliance by invading England. James did so, but the invasion ended with his defeat and death at the battle of Flodden in 1513.
By this time, Scotland had established itself as a united kingdom under the control of the Stuart dynasty. James IV had expressed this supremacy by adding the arched "imperial" crown to his coat of arms*. The crown represented the idea of Roman law that "the king is emperor in his own kingdom." Scots thought of themselves as an imperial monarchy on an equal with any in Europe. James IV's elegant Renaissance court, and his own interests in architecture and medicine, reflected Scotland's self-confident view of itself and its monarchy.
Scottish Humanism. Scotland's familiarity with and acceptance of Renaissance culture and learning promoted such self-confidence. Since the mid-1400s, Scottish officials within and outside of the church had been collecting classical* literature as well as the works of Italian and French humanists. Under royal secretary Archibald Whitelaw, humanist rhetorical* skills were applied in government in the late 1400s.
Scottish universities also adapted to humanist ideas. A group of Scots who studied in Paris exercised enormous influence on university curricula after their return to Scotland. Led by the University of Aberdeen, Scottish universities gradually adopted a humanist course of study aimed at serving both the clergy and the lay* students. The emergence of a group of well-educated laypeople was one of the most significant cultural developments in this period of Scottish history. Many educated Scots went on to study and practice law, often in France or Italy.
James V, barely a year old, inherited the throne on his father's death in 1513. When James assumed control of the government in 1528, he made use of the lay lawyers to reassert the crown's powers. Scotland's influence with the Catholic powers of Europe increased after the English king HENRY VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church in 1533. James V used this power to obtain money from the papacy* and to arrange marriage alliances between Scotland and France.
James invested the rewards of his diplomacy in the royal palaces of Stirling, Falkland, and Holyrood, creating some of the first and finest Renaissance buildings in Britain. However, his glittering court was torn by tensions between church officials and educated laypersons influenced by humanism. James may have even considered following Henry's example in rejecting papal authority and establishing control of the church in Scotland. But the king died suddenly in 1542 at the age of 30.
The Reformation. Soon after James's death, his infant daughter MARY STUART was crowned queen of Scotland. Henry VIII forced the Scots to agree to a marriage between Mary and his heir Edward (died in 1553). Mary was secretly sent to France, where she became fluent in French and married Francis of Valois, the heir to the French throne. In 1561 Mary, a Catholic, returned to Scotland to claim the throne. She was overthrown six years later. Exiled and imprisoned in England, Mary continued to hope for the overthrow of Elizabeth, Queen of England, that would result in her becoming the Catholic queen of England. Mary's trial and execution in 1587 opened the way for her son James VI, the king of Scotland, to become next in line to the English throne.
James VI was baptized a Catholic but raised as a Protestant. His education was supervised by the humanist scholar George Buchanan, who attempted to teach his pupil respect for classical scholarship and the principles of limited monarchy. As a result of Buchanan's efforts, James developed a lifelong love of learning and literature. However, he failed to adopt Buchanan's political ideas. James developed his own theory of the "divine right of kings," based on the belief that a monarch's authority comes from God, not the people, and thus cannot be limited by the people.
The king's determination to maintain the crown's supremacy over church as well as state came partly from his concern for maintaining order in a land torn by years of political and religious turmoil. Although James tried to control religious matters by appointing his own bishops, he did not try to suppress the Catholic faith. In fact, many of the king's most trusted and influential counselors were Catholics.
James's reign was marked by a drive to establish law, order, and civility in Scotland. By 1600 the decline of political violence led many rural lords to abandon fortified castles for more luxurious country estates. Upon the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, James VI of Scotland took the English throne as JAMES I. This united the two crowns, but not the kingdoms. Although James I promoted a common "British" kingdom, Scotland remained a distinct political identity with its own culture.
