Abstract
the Scotland to which James succeeded had changed appreciably from that of his early Stewart ancestors. Especially under James IV and V—broadly in the fifty years after 1498—the impact of the Renaissance had been evident in a great flowering of Scottish literature and music; printing had been introduced in 1508; the professionalised supreme court set up in 1541 provided the mechanism if not always the reality of justice; architecture became more decorative and less formidable; for brief periods at least the King’s writ had some sort of significance beyond the Lowlands. And in 1560 the Scottish Parliament renounced the supreme symbol of medievalism, obedience to Rome.
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Bibliography, and Guides to Further Reading
General economic studies of Scotland before the eighteenth century are still relatively few, but there is useful material on the reign of James VI down to the Union of the Crowns in I. F. Grant, Social and Economic Development of Scotland before 1603 (Edinburgh 1930) and the whole reign is covered in S. G. E. Lythe, The Economy of Scotland in its European Setting 1550–1625 (Edinburgh 1960). Agricultural history is thin though there is relevant material in J. A. Symon, Scottish Farming Past and Present (Edinburgh 1959) and in T. B. Franklin, A History of Scottish Farming (Edinburgh 1952). W. C. Mackenzie, The Highlands and Isles of Scotland (Edinburgh 1949 edn) provides a good introduction to the special problems of the highland economy. On the whole however the serious student must still depend heavily on such primary sources as The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland; The Records of the Convention of Royal Burghs; contemporary observers’ comments on Scotland, of which valuable extracts appear in P. Hume Brown, Early Travellers in Scotland (Edinburgh 1891) and A Source Book of Scottish History, ed. W. C. Dickinson et al. 3 vols, (Edinburgh 1958–61), and in the records of individual burghs, many of which are in print.
On particular themes attention can be drawn to A. Davidson and A. Gray, The Scottish Staple at Veere (London 1909); G. Donaldson, The Scot Overseas (London 1966); J. Warrack, Domestic Life in Scotland 1488–1688 (London 1920); R. W. Cochran-Patrick, The Coinage of Scotland, 2 vols, (Edinburgh 1876); T. Keith, Commercial Relations of England and Scotland 1603–1707 (Cambridge 1910) and T. Pagan, The Convention of the Royal Burghs (Glasgow 1926). The economic impact of the Scottish Reformation is explored in G. Donaldson, The Scottish Reformation (Cambridge 1960) and in articles in the Scottish Historical Review which, especially in recent years, has published valuable contributions to social and economic history.
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© 1973 Alan G. R. Smith, Jennifer M. Brown, Gordon Donaldson, S. G. E. Lythe, Christina Larner, John Bossy, Brian Dietz, Louis B. Wright, Menna Prestwich, W. J. Jones, G. C. F. Forster
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Lythe, S.G.E. (1973). The Economy of Scotland under James VI and I. In: Smith, A.G.R. (eds) The Reign of James VI and I. Problems in Focus Series. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15500-2_4
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