ABSTRACT
In 1567, at one year of age and during a civil war, James Stewart, son of Mary, Queen of Scots, was crowned King of Scots. Though his early years were lived amid political strife, his education, begun when he was three, was intended to fashion him into an exemplary Renaissance prince. His tutors included the fearsome George Buchanan, a scholar and political theorist of European reputation, who believed that a king should be the most learned man in his dominions. Though James rejected Buchanan’s political ideas, he did develop a love of learning (especially of the Bible and theology) and an intellectual curiosity that later made him a considerable scholar and intellectual in his own right.
