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The existence, nature, and scope of the pre-Covenanting state in Scotland has been a source of much historiographical debate. This article contributes to this debate by examining the early modern Scottish state through the lens of a short period of war at the start of Charles I's reign. Upon assuming the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland in 1625, Charles I looked to intervene in the ongoing Thirty Years' War on behalf of his sister and brother-in-law Elizabeth and Frederick of Bohemia. While the direct involvement of the three Stuart kingdoms in the war did not last long, Scotland played an important role as the supplier of soldiers to allied armies, especially Denmark and Sweden. The near constant demand for soldiers intensified the contact between centre and localities and provided opportunities for Scots at the local level to participate, thanks to print, in debates on a national scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Charles I summoned his Scottish estates three times before the Scottish revolution of 1638: in 1625, 1630 and 1633. This article examines the convention of estates of 1630, held one year after Charles had suspended his English parliament. Members of the convention agreed to renew the regular parliamentary taxation (though they refused to vote it for a longer period) and proved surprisingly co-operative over Charles's controversial revocation. However, there was a major explosion of opposition on religious grounds. Two presbyterian petitions attempted to sabotage the enforcement of the five articles of Perth, the crown's flagship liturgical policy; the petitions seemed likely to attract the support of a majority of the estates but were suppressed by high-handed government action. A resolution by the estates against the five articles of Perth might have had a similar effect to the House of Commons' resolutions of 1629 that led to the suspension of the English parliament. The article examines what is known about the dissidents and argues that continuity can be identified both with previous opponents of royal policy (notably in 1621) and with subsequent support for the National Covenant after 1638. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the relationship between the Court of Wards and gentry Roman Catholicism by examining the Court’s administration of the custodial element of wardship for Catholic heirs as well as the fines that were imposed upon Catholic and Protestant families for wardship and livery. The results of this examination are used to throw light on the broader issues of ‘fiscal feudalism’, the degree of continuity and change in the administration of the Court of Wards during the masterships of Sir Robert Naunton and Francis Lord Cottington, as well as the validity of K. Sharpe’s model of the ‘Personal Rule’ of King Charles I. This article demonstrates that, while the traditional understanding of fiscal feudalism still holds significant validity, fiscal feudalism also possessed a religious dimension which can be seen in the way Catholic families were treated by the Court. Additionally, this article also demonstrates the degree of change that occurred in the administration of the Court of Wards when Cottington replaced Naunton as master of the Court in the middle of the 1630s, as well as when the Scottish Covenanter rebellion began in 1637. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In November 1645, Parliament coordinated the arrival of two armies before the Nottinghamshire town of Newark on Trent to besiege this major royalist garrison. To the north of the town was the Scottish army under the Earl of Leven and to the south English forces under the command of Colonel-General Poyntz of the Northern Association. Situated at the meeting of two great highways, and commanding the crossing nearest to the Humber on the river Trent, Newark had provided a major link between the king's headquarters at Oxford and the northern towns of Newcastle and York. Although the besieging armies were of comparable strength, the Scottish army alone was to generate extensive discontent and numerous petitions from parishes in the immediate vicinity of the town about the behaviour of its troops. Using both state papers and surviving local records, this paper seeks to explore the impact and logistics of both armies and examine whether the complaints against the Scots reflected major differences in their circumstances or was simply a coordination of local xenophobia by the parliamentarian gentry of the region seeking to influence wider political struggles at Westminster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historians are generally agreed that Scotland's limited military capability was transformed after 1639, when expatriate mercenaries, with experience of Continental European conflicts, returned home to take part in the wars against Charles I. There has been less interest in how the creation of centrally-coordinated standing forces affected Scottish society. This article focuses on the experiences of Scotland's burghs, where traditional military practices remained a feature of civic life, at least in the larger urban centers, during the early decades of the seventeenth century. These practices informed the way in which burghs responded to the call to arms from 1639. Despite tensions with landed neighbors, burghs were not wholly subsumed into the shires and they retained a measure of their distinctiveness as military units. Burghal autonomy was severely tested from the mid-sixteen-forties, not only by the demands of central government but also by the physical presence of soldiers in the midst of the urban community. This essay will explore the strategies employed by civic leaders to protect the community from violence and exploitation, while also maintaining their own authority and status. It will be tentatively suggested here that the social and political structures of civic life proved surprisingly resilient under the unprecedented pressures placed upon them during the sixteen-forties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviews are presented of the articles "Economic causes and consequences of the Scottish invasions of north-east England, 1637-1647," by M.R. Greenhall, which appeared within the journal "Northern History," volume 49, and "The maritime shipping trade of Scarborough, 1550 to 1750," by P. Nash, which appeared within the journal "Northern History," volume 49.

The article discusses the role of the printing press in the Scottish Covenanting government from the 1638 Assembly the Covenanters, and describes the critical writings of Glasgow General Assembly member Robert Baillie. The Covenanters' conversion from Episcopal to Presbyterian church government is discussed, as well as their use of the press to promote the image of government transparency. Royalist support for King Charles I, the Scottish government's Articles of Perth, and propaganda in Scotland are also discussed.