James VI and I was arguably the most successful ruler of the Stewart Dynasty in Scotland, and the first king of a united Great Britain. His ableness as a monarch, it has been argued, stemmed largely from his Scottish upbringing. This book is the first in-depth scholarly study of those formative years.

It tries to understand exactly when in James' 'long apprenticeship' he seized political power and retraces the incremental steps he took along the way. It also poses new answers to key questions about this process. What relationship did he have with his mother Mary Queen of Scots? Why did he favour his kinsman Esmé Stuart, ultimately Duke of Lennox, to such an extent that it endangered his own throne? And was there a discernible pattern of intent to the alliances he made with the various factions at court between 1578 and 1585? This book also analyses James’ early reign as an important case study of the impact of the Reformation on the monarchy of early modern Europe, and examines the cultural activity at James' early court.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Plates
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• Genealogical Table
• Map
• Introduction
• 1. James’ First Year, 1566–1567
• 2. James as Commodity: The Marian Civil War, 1567–1573
• 3. A Brief and Peaceful Interlude: James’ Childhood, 1573–1578
• 4. ‘The twelfth yeir of his aige’: The Transition from Child to Adolescent King, March 1578–September 1579
• 5. To Serve ‘mon petit maistre’: Esmé Stuart and Scottish Politics, September 1579–December 1580
• 6. Dangerous Associations: James and the Lennox–Arran Regime, October 1580–March 1582
• 7. From Bairn to Bearded Man: James and the Ruthven Raid, August 1582–July 1583
• 8. ‘Eschew the inconvenients’: James, the Raiders and Revenge, July 1583–April 1584
• 9. Arran’s Hegemony? Policy and Governance, May 1584–November 1585
• 10. King of the Hunt: James’ Courtly Interests, 1583–1585
• Conclusion: James VI, Minority and the Stewart Dynasty
• Bibliography
• Index
• Plates