The Writings of King James VI and I and Early Modern Literary Culture

King James VI and I was unprecedented among early modern monarchs in the extent to which he exploited writing and print as a means of constructing and exercising his authority. His extensive and varied writings cover many different genres, including poetry, scriptural exegeses, and political treatises. They were published in Scotland and England, as well as in some cases being translated and published on the Continent, and span a period of around forty years. Many contemporary writers in Scotland and England, including Alexander Montgomerie and Ben Jonson, responded to James’s works in their own, reflecting the important role that these works played in the literary culture of both countries. Yet James’s writings and their reception received little critical attention until the late twentieth century and there are still significant gaps. This article traces the critical history of these writings from the early twentieth century to the present, across the disciplines of English Literature and History, and the multi‐disciplinary field of Scottish Studies. It argues that this history highlights the sometimes unhelpful boundaries that have been maintained between these disciplines and fields, and that future work in this area might productively take a more comparative and interdisciplinary approach.