Synopses & Reviews
The period between the Reformation and the Covenanting Revolution has generated much historical debate on issues of political authority and power. In this volume Keith M Brown builds on his previous book, Noble Society in Scotland, to argue that in spite of the changes brought about by the Reformation, by the recovery of crown authority and by the regal union between England and Scotland, the huge power exercised by the nobility remained fundamentally unaltered. Hence when political crisis did surface in 1637-8 the crown lacked the means to oppose a noble-led revolution.Noble Power in Scotland is constructed within a framework that discusses the nobility's political relationship with the crown in chapters at either end of this volume, taking the regal union of 1603 as the crucial dividing point. The remainder of the book addresses in turn themes that analyse the various roles nobles inhabited in exercising power. There are chapter on nobles as chiefs of the remarkably strong and durable kindreds or clans, as lords over extensive territorial networks of dependants, as warriors and soldiers in domestic and foreign service, as men whose notions of honour often determined political behaviour, as magistrates presiding over a system of private local jurisdictions while also colonising central law courts, as parliamentarians and royal councillors, and as courtiers in attendance on the king in Scotland and after 1603 in London. Brown places this discussion firmly within a wider debate about the enduring power of European nobilities, showing that the Scottish nobility successfully adapted to political change, just as it did to economic and cultural change, to retain its dominant political position throughout the period.
Synopsis
In this fresh take on Scottish history, Keith M. Brown examines the roles that nobles played in ruling 16th and 17th century Scotland on every level-- politcally, economically, socially, and culturally--and ultimately argues that noble power permeated the layers of Scottish society despite the Reformation and Covenanting Revolution. Historians have long disputed that this age was characterized by the rise of the common Scot, but this volume proposes that the position of the nobility--chieftains, courtiers, parliamentarians, politicians, and soldiers--remained fundamentally unaltered despite religious and political upheaval.
Synopsis
Analyses the relations between nobility, crown and state, first in Scotland and then in the first courts of the unified kingdoms.
Synopsis
'Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?' This quotation from Job begins Keith Brown's study of how Scotland's nobility rallied under the pressure of the Reformation and the Covenanting Revolution - a tumultuous period which has generated much historical debate on issues of political authority and power.
In this volume Brown builds on his previous book, Noble Society in Scotland, to argue that in spite of the changes brought about by the Reformation, by the recovery of crown authority and by the regal union between England and Scotland, the huge power exercised by the nobility remained fundamentally unaltered. Hence, when political crisis did surface in 1637-8, the crown lacked the means to oppose a noble-led revolution.Noble Power in Scotland discusses the nobility's political relationship with the crown in chapters at either end of this volume, taking the regal union of 1603 as the crucial dividing point. The remainder of the book addresses in turn themes that analyse the various roles nobles inhabited in exercising power. Keith Brown situates the Scottish debate within the wider arena of European nobilities and their enduring power, showing that the Scottish nobility successfully adapted to political change, just as it did to economic and cultural change, to retain its dominant political position throughout the period.
Key Features:
- Nobles as chiefs of clans and lords of Scottish territories
- Nobles as warriors and soldiers in domestic and foreign service
- Nobles as men of honour Nobles as law-bringers and magistrates
- Nobles as parliamentarians, royal councillors and courtiers
Synopsis
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The period between the Reformation and the Covenanting Revolution has generated much historical debate on issues of political authority and power. In this volume Keith M Brown builds on his previous book, Noble Society in Scotland, to argue that in spite of the changes brought about by the Reformation, by the recovery of crown authority and by the regal union between England and Scotland, the huge power exercised by the nobility remained fundamentally unaltered. Hence when political crisis did surface in 1637-8 the crown lacked the means to oppose a noble-led revolution.
Noble Power in Scotland is constructed within a framework that discusses the nobility's political relationship with the crown in chapters at either end of this volume, taking the regal union of 1603 as the crucial dividing point. The remainder of the book addresses in turn themes that analyse the various roles nobles inhabited in exercising power. There are chapter on nobles as chiefs of the remarkably strong and durable kindreds or clans, as lords over extensive territorial networks of dependants, as warriors and soldiers in domestic and foreign service, as men whose notions of honour often determined political behaviour, as magistrates presiding over a system of private local jurisdictions while also colonising central law courts, as parliamentarians and royal councillors, and as courtiers in attendance on the king in Scotland and after 1603 in London.
Brown places this discussion firmly within a wider debate about the enduring power of European nobilities, showing that the Scottish nobility successfully adapted to political change, just as it did to economic and cultural change, to retain its dominant political position throughout the period.
About the Author
Keith Brown is Vice-President and DeanFaculty of Humanities at the University of Manchester