4 - James and John: James I (1406–37), Monastic Reform, Kingship, and the Cult of John the Baptist

Summary

ONE of the defining features of the work of Roger Mason is a concern with the way in which political ideologies informed the political expectations and actions of the secular and ecclesiastical elites of late medieval and early modern Scotland. Mason's approach has never been an exercise in abstract intellectual history, but rather an attempt to understand how the views, arguments and writings of medieval thinkers, scholars and moralists might have shaped the way individuals and groups conceived of their role, duties, and obligations within the social and political structures of the realm. A persistent theme in Mason's work has been the relationship between kingship and royal government on the one hand, and the rights and beliefs of those subject to the authority of the crown on the other. The starting point for a series of thought-provoking and elegant ‘Masonic’ studies is the presumption that medieval kings and their administrators did indeed have ideas about the nature and reach of monarchical powers and rights and looked to find persuasive ways to articulate and promote these concepts in the public sphere to their own subjects. In this regard Mason has embraced ‘Renaissance Kingship’ as a useful umbrella term, denoting a royal lineage and establishment that consciously sought to enhance its status and the fullness of its authority through a variety of means. Renaissance monarchy was distinguished by a sustained emphasis on the supremacy of the king's legal authority within and throughout the realm. The (theoretically) unassailable nature of the monarch's power was promoted through the patronage of architectural, literary, and artistic works that stressed the elevated nature of royal ‘majesty’ and encouraged automatic deference to the king. The Renaissance court manipulated chivalric and religious sentiment and symbols to focus loyalty on the crown and used ceremony and ritual to stress formal hierarchy and the king's place as the font of social distinction and honour. Chronologically, the advent of Renaissance kingship in Scotland is usually placed, by Mason and others, in the reign of James III (1460–88). However, another reign that has been proposed as marking a significant change in the articulation and assertion of royal rights and ambition within Scotland is that of James I (1406–37).