A Century of Disorder and Transformation—Scotland 1550-1650
Dunnigan, Sara, and Elizabeth Ewan. Renaissance and Reformation 30, no. 4 (2006): 3–12.
This chapter serves as an introduction to ”Scotland 1550-1650”, a general book on Early Modern Scotland. This introduction is useful for understanding the primary arguments centring on this turbulent time, and the wider themes of the book. It is also a useful standalone piece for diving into the complexities of Anglo-Scottish relations in this period.
Dunnigan and Ewan focus on the reasonings behind the Regnal Union of 1603, from King James VI’s personal motivations as monarch to the wider post-reformation religious dynamics present throughout Europe during this time. They point to wider questions of identity and order for ‘Britain’ before, contemporary with, and after the creation of the Union. They sift through the intricacies of this not-so-straightforward peace, setting out the tone of the rest of the book, and illustrating wider scholarly commentary on the process of peacemaking and peacekeeping.