Introduction

The introduction begins by tracing the history of the major contributions to the debate over noble power versus the centralisation of government in early modern Scotland, and assesses how the contributions to the volume further add to this. It concludes that James' attitude to noble power and service had many continuities and parallels with his earlier Stewart predecessors such as James IV and James V, altered in line with his own expectations that they would serve him and the ideal of himself as a 'universal king'