John Stewart of Baldynneis: Renaissance Scots’ missing link?

Poetry is most often valued for its overall effect – but the building bricks are just as important and for a poet like John Stewart of Baldynneis (fl. 1539–1607), who revered the craft of authorship, words and method were often greater than subject matter. This paper attempts to contextualise John Stewart of Baldynneis’ use of language and establish the source and underlying agenda of his poetic idiolect. It especially focuses on the European context and illustrates how the use of French sources made Stewart a prime candidate for James VI’s band of court poets which came into being as a result of James’ desire for a forward-looking Renaissance in Scottish vernacular literature in the late sixteenth century.