عنوان

Kingship and commonwealth :

TLets344355

Kingship and commonwealth :

[Thesis]

Mason, R. A.

Political thought and ideology in Reformation Scotland

University of Edinburgh

1983

Ph.D.

University of Edinburgh

1983

In general terms, this thesis may be characterized as a study ofthe ideological context in which the Scottish Reformation took place.More specifically, however, it has three complementary and overlappingaims. Firstly, it is intended to provide detailed exegesesof the political thought of the major theorists of the period (e. g.John Mair, John Knox and George Buchanan) with reference not only tothe mainstreams of European intellectual history with which they areusually associated, but also to the Scottish political and ideologicalbackground from which they are too often divorced. Secondly, in orderto fill in the latter context, the thesis aims through an analysis ofa wide range of literary and record material to explore the politicalbeliefs and ideals of the Scottish community at large as thesedeveloped in the century or so preceding the Reformation in responseto changing social, political and religious circumstances. Finally,the third aim of the thesis is to reassess both the rebellion of theProtestant Congregation in 1559 and the deposition of Mary Stewart in1567 in the light of the new understanding of their ideological contextwhich the foregoing has sought to establish. An important conclusionto emerge from this, research is that, despite the well-attestedradicalism of Knox and Buchanan, the Scots in general were highlyconservative in their political attitudes and, perhaps contrary toreceived opinion, extremely reluctant to rebel against the establishedauthorities. It is argued, in fact, that Scottish political thinkingwas dominated during this period by essentially medieval concepts ofkingship and the commonweal which made no explicit provision for eitherresistance or tyrannicide and which made it difficult for many Scots either to accept the radical ideologies of Knox and Buchanan or tocountenance the revolutionary upheavals of the Reformation era. Inline with much current research, therefore, the thesis concludes thatProtestantism was established in Scotland on a far more uncertain andprecarious basis than is sometimes assumed and that its survival "after 1560 depended to a large extent on English support for a reformingparty which at least initially had little backing within Scotlanditself.

History

Mason, R. A.

University of Edinburgh

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y