Parliamentary History

The Government of Scotland is a sequel of sorts to Julian Goodare's State and Society in Early Modern Scotland (1999). The central argument of State and Society was that by the death of James VI and I in 1625 Scotland had become an absolute sovereign state. The subject of The Government of Scotland is more diffuse. In the introduction Goodare announces that its purpose is three-fold: 'to put Scotland on the map for those interested in the history of European government', 'to provide materials for those interested in British history' and 'to make a contribution to the history of Scotland'. It is a study of 'the processes of government', not an old-fashioned institutional survey. At the end of the introduction he also states that he wishes to examine whether Scotland underwent a version of the 'Tudor Revolution in Government' during James's reign. This is the subject of a final chapter ('A Stewart Revolution in Government?') and a somewhat didactic conclusion.

The initial three aims are unexceptionable in themselves, but they are not the same thing. A survey of Scottish government for the benefit of non-specialists would involve some guide to terminology and institutional structures, while a contribution to internal debates on Scotland could assume that its primary readership would be familiar with them. Goodare effectively takes the latter course, certainly no glossary is provided. The question whether Scotland underwent an Eltonian revolution in [End Page 268] government in the reign of James VI is not a new one. As Goodare concedes, it was raised in 1959 by Maurice Lee in his biography of John Maitland of Thirlestane. Goodare also follows Lee in arguing that the key point in the revolution was the 'reforming parliament' of 1587 that saw the introduction of the fourth estate of lairds or shire commissioners (though this was prefigured in 1560) and the conversion of the lay commendators into the lords of erection.

However, Elton's Tudor revolution (if not his entire oeuvre) rested on solidly-researched institutional studies, which, whatever is thought of the overall thesis, remain useful to this day. 'Processes' occupy an ambiguous ground between institutions and politics. It is not clear whether Goodare has been able to define them for The Government of Scotland actually reads like a loose and rambling institutional survey. The subjects of most of its chapters ('The Body Politic', 'Personal Monarchy', 'The Privy Council', 'Officers and Departments') are institutions not processes. Some of the individual chapters are very good — especially the one on the law and legislation — but much of the ground has already been covered in State and Society. State and Society ranged more widely over the period 1469 to 1707, but it was equally focused on 1560-1625 and there are more than a few overlaps and repetitions. The notes of both contain numerous cross references and Goodare clearly had The Government of Scotland in mind when he wrote State and Society, but the relationship between the two is never explained.

The language of the conclusions is equally loose: 'The conclusion, therefore, is that the government of Scotland travelled a long way during the reigns of Queen Mary and her son.' Scotland was transformed from 'a decentralized kingdom based on the power of a landed aristocracy [to] . . . a centralized kingdom based on the power of a landed aristocracy'. The transformation of Scotland is based on some controversial assumptions. Pages 217-18 contain a table (admittedly a rough one) of the expansion of the 'public local administrators', from 365 in 1560 to 1,655 in 1625. Of the 1,300 new administrators, 400 are the J.P.s introduced in 1610, but 800 are parish ministers, on the ground that the Church was a department of the state.

The treatment of politics is probably the most idiosyncratic aspect of this book. Central to Goodare's Stewart revolution is the abandoning of feuding by the nobility after 1600. Apart from the question whether the importance of blood feud has not been greatly...