Author’s Note
After the death of James V, the political situation in Scotland was as confusing as it was torturous. Historians remain divided as to whether Cardinal Beaton entirely forged the king’s will, or whether he acted on some prior encouragement from the dying James. Good accounts of the strange events can be found in Margaret Sanderson’s Cardinal of Scotland (2001, John Donald Ltd.), Marcus Merriman’s The Rough Wooings of Mary Queen of Scots (2000, Tuckwell Press), and Rosalind Marshall’s Mary of Guise (1977, Collins). The truth will never be known, but however it came about the document was certainly a product of Beaton’s attempt to control events. At any rate, it failed, and the Cardinal, after a brief period of power, was arrested in council at the end of January, and shuttled to prison at Dalkeith, with Henry VIII demanding that he be sent to England in chains. The Protector of Scotland, the vacillating Arran, did indeed promise to ‘pluck the Cardinal from his pomp’, but he was unwilling to send the prelate south, especially when the Catholic Church in Scotland suspended services until he was released (which, as depicted in the novel, was a cause of anxiety to Danforth).
For those interested in Stirling in the period, I would recommend Brian Durie’s The Story of Stirling (2003, History Press), and, for the committed reader, the charmingly-tiled Georgian work, A General History of Stirling: Containing a Description of the Town, and the Origin of the Castle and Burgh (1794, C. Randall). Too often historical studies are focussed on the history of the magnificent castle, perched on its rock above the town. The burgh itself, however, has an interesting history of internecine conflict between criminal gangs and warring guilds.
The pornographic woodcut book Danforth finds in Madeleine Furay’s house gave rise to interesting research of its own, and the area is currently undergoing major study by a new generation of cultural historians interested in early modern ephemera. Here I would recommend Lynn Hunt’s The Invention of Pornography: Obscenity and the Origins of Modernity, 1500 – 1800 (1993, Zone Books), Sodomy in Early Modern Europe by Tom Betteridge (2002, Manchester University Press), Johanna Rickman’s Love, Lust and Licence in Early Modern England (2008, Ashgate). Our ancestors were far from saints, and it’s refreshing to know that they indulged in the kind of vices familiar to the modern age. For those interested in the intersection of money and sex in the period, Vitullo and Wolfthal’s Money, Morality and Culture in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe (2016, Ashgate) is useful.
Crime and punishment in the early modern period are fascinating areas of study. For a contemporary view, I’d recommend The Elizabethan Underworld - a collection of Tudor and Early Stuart Tracts and Ballads, edited by A. V. Judges (Routledge, 2002), and Ken MacMillan’s Stories of True Crime in Tudor and Stuart England (2015, Routledge). The coney-catching act of ‘Sir’ Andrew Boyle is drawn from these sources – which makes one wonder if anyone ever really fell for it, or if they were bullied into pretending to.
The Martin house is entirely fictional, but I’ve located its site on a map of old Stirling. In describing its layout, I based it loosely on Sauchie Tower, in Clackmannanshire, Scotland. This building can still be visited. I should admit that it would have been far too grand here for a family of even wealthy merchants like the Martins but hope you will permit the licence taken.
In closing, I would like to thank all readers for following the story of Simon Danforth. Throughout I have endeavoured to keep his attitudes, often exasperating, as appropriate to the period (without being too alienating) as I could. If I’ve got anything wrong, or if you have any questions or comments, please hit me up on Twitter @ScrutinEye. Otherwise, I’m currently working on the third adventure, which will see the straight-laced Danforth enter royal service under the remarkable Mary of Guise. For those who want a flavour of the horrors in store for him, I would encourage you to look up the gruesome fate, and the ghostly afterlife, of James Hamilton of Finnart…
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