51cg

Professor Steven Reid (University of Glasgow)30 September 2026

The personal reign of James VI in Scotland (1585-1603): court and household

Steven Reid specialises on the intellectual, political and religious history of Scotland between c. 1450 and c. 1650, especially the life and reign of James VI in Scotland (1567-1603). His recent book, The Early Life of James VI: A Long Apprenticeship, 1566-1585 (Edinburgh, 2023) is the first detailed narrative of James’ childhood and rise to power, and fundamentally re-assesses James' early court, household, his relationship with his mother and key favourites, and the factional struggles of this period. He is also working on a short monograph on the life and career of Archbishop Patrick Adamson (1537-1592), which has a stronger emphasis on church-state relations in the first three decades after the Scottish Protestant Reformation of 1560.