A detailed study of Scottish diplomacy and foreign affairs during the turbulent medieval centuries.

This nine-essay volume provides the first full-length, detailed exploration of the kingdom of Scotland during the reign of Alexander II (1214-49), and the most extensive analysis of this key state-builder and his policies.

Across early-modern Europe the confessional struggles of the Reformation touched virtually every aspect of civic life; and nowhere was this more apparent than in the universities, the seedbed of political and ecclesiastical society. Focussing on events in Scotland, this book reveals how established universities found themselves at the centre of a struggle by competing forces trying to promote their own political, religious or educational beliefs, and under competition from new institutions. It surveys the transformation of Scotland's medieval and Catholic university system into a greatly-expanded Protestant one in the decades following the Scottish Reformation of 1560. Simultaneously the study assesses the contribution of the continentally-educated religious reformer Andrew Melville to this process in the context of broader European social and cultural developments - including growing lay interest in education (as a result of renaissance humanism), and the involvement of royal and civic government as well as the new Protestant Kirk in university expansion and reform. Through systematic use of largely neglected manuscript sources, the book offers fresh perspectives on both Andrew Melville and the development of Scottish higher education post-1560. As well as providing a detailed picture of events in Scotland, it contributes to our growing understanding of the role played by higher education in shaping society across Europe.

Scottish history has been strangely neglected. This is the first scholarly biography of Robert Baillie, the minister, historian and participant in the revolutionary Covenanter movement. Baillie's life (1602 - 1662) spans the most important period in the history of Scotland as an independent state. The revolution began in 1636 when Charles I, Stuart King of England and Scotland, attempted to unite the reformed churches of his two kingdoms by promulgating a universal litany known as the Service Book. Baillie, though himself a conservative Royalist, joined the Scottish lords and ministers in signing the National Covenant, the document that led ultimately to the downfall of Charles and two wars with England. Despite his prominence in what became the Second Reformation of the Scottish church, Baillie managed to survive many purges and changes of regime, keeping detailed journals on the events of which he was part. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1974.

What did it mean to be a Covenanter?