The History of the Scottish Parliament, Volume Two. Parliament and Politics in Scotland, 1567-1707 (review)

Abstract

The creation of a new Scottish parliament in 1999 has naturally helped to stimulate a resurgence of interest in the history of the parliament that existed in Scotland up until the union with England in 1707. That interest has borne fruit most notably in the Scottish Parliament Project (S.P.P.) at the University of St Andrews, which was established in 1997 under the direction of Keith Brown. With funding from the Scottish Office and latterly the Scottish Executive, together with the British Academy, the S.P.P. has created a new digital edition of the acts of the Scottish parliament from its earliest known proceedings in 1235 up to 1707. The S.P.P. is also producing a three-volume history of the Scottish parliament, of which the present volume is the second. This is a fascinating and highly accomplished collection that takes discussion of the Scottish parliament during the later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to a new level of sophistication while also locating it within the wider context of early-modern European assemblies most successfully.