Scottish Poetry of the Sixteenth Century

This collection gathers the voices of Scotland’s sixteenth‑century poets—Sir David Lyndsay, John Bellenden, King James V, Sir Richard Maitland, Alexander Scot and Alexander Montgomerie—presented in their original form but with a modern eye for clarity. A marginal glossary translates obscure words on the spot, sparing listeners the need to flip through footnotes or separate dictionaries. The poems are reproduced in full, including for the first time since 1786 the complete verses attributed to King James V, allowing the era’s lyrical richness to shine through.

Set against the aftermath of the 1513 battle of Flodden, the verses capture a nation grappling with the loss of its medieval mantle and the stirrings of a new, reform‑driven consciousness. The anthology sketches how the collapse of feudal structures opened the way for religious fervour and early Renaissance ideas, a tension that reverberates through the poetry. Listeners will hear the raw emotions of a society on the brink of transformation, voiced in a language made approachable without losing its historic flavor.