ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the possibilities of a 'model' of cross-fertilisation suggested by Jack, by moving closer together both the fields of literary and historical research and the increasingly divided study of Scottish and English literature. It intends to raise the possibility of an interdisciplinary space for mutual enrichment in these areas. A great deal of the evidence concerning early sixteenth-century literature is often ambiguous and based upon speculation, inference and plausibility. The literary creations of courtier poets who served at court were necessarily tied to pragmatic imperatives that were often socio-political in nature and at other times imbued with national politics. The interdisciplinary methodology of the study, however, is neither a scythe able to slice a clear pathway through all maze and thicket, nor a panacea able to cure all ills.
