The 15th century witnessed the dawning of the Renaissance, which swept across Europe, breaking light into the darkest crevasses of the Middle Ages. It was an irreversible period of enlightenment as Greek and Roman ideologies were rediscovered, revolutionising social, religious, and political thinking.
Brushes splashed out great works of art, books abounded, ornate buildings soared, international curiosity was unleashed, and sciences flourished across the continent – and Scotland was no exception, with a succession of Stuart kings overseeing this period of cultural transformation.
JAMES III
Scotland’s fifth Stuart monarch didn’t make his relatively short life easy. Crowned at the age of eight (or nine; disputed) and in control by 17, James III either unwittingly or without regard, excelled at getting on the wrong side of the wrong people. From parliament and the clergy to ambitious nobility and his own family, James was anything
