A B S T R A C T. When James VI and I arrived in London in 1603, he created a new bedchamber, which he filled with Scottish courtiers. This he positioned, antagonistically as it turned out, between himself and the more English privy chamber. These Scottish courtiers thus had the most intimate access to James, and were able to exercise great influence over the distribution of James's favour. Whilst their importance has been debated within an English context, their significance within James's government in Scotland has not yet been addressed. These Scotsmen became the focus for patronage networks stretching from Whitehall, through the privy council in Edinburgh, to the Scottish regional elites, and helped James retain the co-operation of those elites. Against the background of attempts to gain fuller union, James sought to demonstrate the benefits of regnal union by prosecuting a pacification of crime within the Scottish and English Borders, now rechristened the Middle Shires. Patronage networks from Whitehall to Roxburghshire secured the co-operation of the Scottish Borders elite, whilst acting as conduits for information and advice back to Whitehall. This article will suggest that these relationships were integral to Scottish governmental processes in James's absence, providing a much-needed cohesive force within his fragile new multiple monarchy.When James VI and I arrived in London in 1603, he found a court staffed, naturally enough, by Englishmen. In order to retain the services of Elizabeth's able administrators and the loyalty of England's elites, he kept most of the existing English privy councillors, and the English gentlemen of the privy chamber. He was keen also to maintain the co-operation of the Scottish elites and balanced the composition of the privy chamber by introducing into it some Scotsmen. Additionally, in one of the more antagonistic innovations of the regnal union, he instituted a bedchamber, physically positioned between him and the privy
At the heart of this book is a previously unpublished account of Ben Jonson's celebrated walk from London to Edinburgh in the summer of 1618. This unique firsthand narrative provides us with an insight into where Jonson went, whom he met, and what he did on the way. James Loxley, Anna Groundwater and Julie Sanders present a clear, readable and fully annotated edition of the text. An introduction and a series of contextual essays shed further light on topics including the evidence of provenance and authorship, Jonson's contacts throughout Britain, his celebrity status, and the relationships between his 'foot voyage' and other famous journeys of the time. The essays also illuminate wider issues such as early modern travel and political and cultural relations between England and Scotland. It is an invaluable volume for scholars and upper-level students of Ben Jonson studies, early modern literature, seventeenth-century social history, and cultural geography.
L'élimination du crime le long des frontières anglaises, de pair avec un plus grand sérieux face à ce problème à partir de 1587, fait partie d'une monopolisation générale de l'utilisation de la violence et des procédés légaux par le gouvernement écossais. Au fur et à mesure que la succession de Jacques Stuart sur le trône anglais devenait vraisemblable, le contrôle des frontières s'est accéléré, et les chefs expéditionnaires des raids outre frontières y ont contribué. Aux environs de 1607, Jacques affirmait que les désordres frontaliers s'étaient transformés en une harmonie exemplaire au sein d’une nouvelle unité transfrontalière, les « Middle Shires ». Toutefois, ceci était davantage l'expression de la vision qu’avait Jacques de l'union politique de l'Écosse et de l'Angleterre, contredite par la séparation effective des organisations frontalières écossaise et anglaise, et qui a duré jusqu'en 1624. Cet article examine les transformations de la loi et du crime dans les régions frontalières, ainsi que la détérioration de la perception qu'avait le gouvernement de ces frontières.
The seventeenth century was one of the most dramatic periods in Scotland's history, with two political revolutions, intense religious strife culminating in the beginnings of toleration, and the modernisation of the state and its infrastructure. This book focuses on the history that the Scots themselves made.
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