Political Ideas

Abstract

Ideas are commonly associated with words, but in an age when the mass of the Scottish population remained illiterate, or at best semi-literate, the propagation of visual ideas was important. The crown’s unionist ideas were popularised in the early seventeenth century through a number of different media, for example the coinage and flags. Religious disputes centred on issues like clerical dress and the simplicity or ornateness of church decoration. Aristocratic domination of the countryside was expressed in the building of castles and country houses, and the conservative values of the aristocracy were reflected in their architectural styles. The rotting heads and quarters of traitors were left in public places to demonstrate the penalties of rebellion. These visual messages conveyed powerful political ideas which reached a wide audience.More exclusive visual ideas were directed at the aristocracy by the crown through its artistic patronage. The loss of the court to London in 1603 gave the king access to greater artistic and financial resources, but the number of Scots subjected to the royalist propaganda was diminished.