I imagine the first question anyone will ask is what is a column called "Scottish Flotsam". I guess we will have to begin with what is "flotsam". Among the definitions of the word are "things washed ashore" or "miscellaneous trifles". Well, we believe you can find some great treasure on the ocean shore. But -- you will never know what you will find or its value. So we decided that is what this column is - flotsam. We wanted a place to put things that didn't fit anywhere else and might be of interest. Each item could be a column itself and might be some day but for now it will be the flotsam, which washes our way.

After the Reformation there were some alterations to the membership of Parliament. While bishops still attended, as did the commendators who had succeeded the abbots, the practice of erecting such commendators into temporal lordships, adopted by James VI (1566-1625) in 1587, meant that they joined the ranks of the nobility in growing numbers. In the 1630s the controversy over the Prayer Book (1637) and its aftermath resulted in no bishops being present at any of the parliaments held between 1639 and 1660. However, the prelates were restored in 1661 by Charles II (1630-85) and it was not until the Revolution Settlement (1689) that ecclesiastical representation was finally removed.

The nobility, unlike the spiritual estate, strengthened its position, especially during the seventeenth century. In fact by the eve of the Treaty of Union (1707), as a result of accession by lords of erection and various creations from the ranks of the lairds, the 154 Scottish peers almost equalled their English counterparts in number.

Burgh representation and influence, like that of the magnates, also expanded in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Attendance was primarily restricted to royal burghs but these swelled in number from around forty in 1500 to a total of sixty-six by 1707. Moreover there was a considerable increase in the number of burgesses actually appearing at Parliament and several burghs in the early seventeenth century were sending two members - a practice, from 1621, officially only permissible by Edinburgh. The method of selection remained unaltered with individual town councils nominating their burgess commissioners.

The main departure in the composition of Parliament took place in the second half of the sixteenth century with the appearance of the county commissioners. Although small barons and freeholders had been encouraged to attend in the reign of James I (1394 - 1437), this innovation had never caught on and it was not until the lairds became more politically conscious a century later that they showed much interest in constitutional matters. Over one hundred of them flocked to the 'Reformation Parliament' in 1560 but it was not until 1587 that James VI, eager to counter the influence of the Kirk and also grateful for a useful financial subvention, drafted the necessary legislation. This ratified James I's earlier statute and consequently each shire elected two members, with the exception of Clackmannan and Kinross who each had one. Both the franchise and qualifications for sitting as a county member were limited initially to these landowners who were forty-shilling freeholders. Later seventeenth-century legislation widened the franchise to include feuars and certain other categories while in the 1690s some larger counties were allowed to send additional members.

For much of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Crown maintained a very strong grip on Parliament. To some extent this was due to the presence of the numerous individuals who were mere nominees of the Crown such as members of the Privy Council, bishops and noblemen who owed their recent elevation to royal favour. Moreover, in the counties Sheriffs could exercise wide influence while in the burghs royal authority was frequently considerable. But undoubtedly it was the body known as the Committee of the Articles that put the king or his royal commissioners into such decidedly powerful position. Originally the Lords of the Articles had been chosen in various ways, sometimes even by all the Estates, bu under James VI it become a system specifically designed to extend royal control. Thus, by 1621, the bishops were choosing eight noblemen who in turn selected eight bishops and between then they chose the burgh and count representatives. Since the bishops were royal appointments and they would only pick magnates sympathetic to the Crown, the extent royal domination is obvious. Besides, there was the long established tradition of Parliament once it assembled, allowing the Lords of Articles to be chosen and then adjourning. It reassembled merely to give its assent to bill placed before it and which it had no hand in drafting.

Although there was some dimunition of royal authority during the Covenanting interlude when the Committee of Articles was abolished and Parliament gained control over the executive and judiciary, Charles Il's reign saw a return to something like the previous constitutional situation. Thus it was not until the Revolution Settlement and the final abolition of the Committee of Articles that the Scottish parliamentary system really began to show some signs of serious development. In fact, by 1703 all proposed legislation was to be discussed at every stage by the whole assembly. Ironically this included, shortly afterwards, the articles of the treaty heralding its demise.

Dickinson, W. C., Donaldson, G., Milne, I. A., eds., A Source book of Scottish History II and III, Nelson, 1963
Donaldson, G., Scotland: James V to James VII, Oliver & Boyd, 1965
Raite, R. S., The Parliaments of Scotland, Maclehouse, Jackson, 1924

Now lets look at some specific dates:

1610 - July 3
Three Spaniards were allowed to live in Scotland and keep the nation supplied with mouse and rat-traps.

1867 - July 9
Queen's Park, the first senior football club in Scotland, was formed.

1326 - July 15
Parliament of Robert the Bruce introduced a tax to help suitably maintain the monarch 'as becomes his station'.

1745 - July 25
Prince Charles Edward Stuart lands at Borrodale in Inverness-shire at the start of the Jacobite Uprising.

Source - Scotching the Myths by Jim Hewiston can be found in the History Book Section of Scottish Radiance.

It is time to stop combing the library but we can not quit without some quotes from Quotable Scots another great History bookshelf resident. Let's see what quotes we can find.