"This collection of essays demonstrates the vitality of the political, cultural and religious history of Scotland in the era of the Renaissance and Reformation. It is a Festschrift for Michael Lynch, who recently retired as the Sir William Fraser Professor of Scottish History and Palaeography at the University of Edinburgh. It includes essays on politics, religion and towns, and on the literature and culture of the royal court and the common people. The essays all illuminate the 'long sixteenth century', c. 1500-1650, which Professor Lynch has established as a distinct period."--BOOK JACKET.