Alexander Courtney
@dralexcourtney.bsky.social
1.5K followers 1.8K following 88 posts
#Earlymodern historian | FRHistS | IHR Fellow 📚James VI, Britannic Prince (Routledge, 2024) | James VI & I: Kingship, Government & Religion (2025) | Co-editor: Mary Queen of Scots’ Lost Letters (forthcoming, Routledge) https://bio.site/alexandercourtney
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‘This remarkable book is a gripping account of a child-monarch becoming a man… a major contribution not only to Scottish and British History but to our understanding of the geopolitics of Europe in an age of turmoil.'

#earlymodern #JamesVI #ScottishHistory

www.routledge.com/James-VI-Bri...
James VI, Britannic Prince: King of Scots and Elizabeth’s Heir, 1566–1603
By drawing upon recent scholarship, original manuscript materials, and previously unpublished sources, this new biography presents an analytical narrative of King James VI & I’s life from his birth in...
www.routledge.com
Most watched 🥳
‘Marie Stuart: l’énigme des lettres codées’ @artefr.bsky.social
#earlymodern #renaissance #monarchy #history
Ha ha! Yes - until his next opportunity to do otherwise…
For ‘famously’ read ‘allegedly’, in my view. The ‘evidence’ concerning Buchanan’s schooling of James VI has been much misunderstood.
Reposted by Alexander Courtney
Seuls des rois de la cryptanalyse pouvaient percer le mystère des lettres codées d'une reine ✍️
Reposted by Alexander Courtney
The wonderful documentary of my friends George, Norbert and Satoshi’s discovery and decipherment of #MaryQueenofScots lost letters.

Beautifully crafted by writer and director Augustin Viatte.

On @artefr.bsky.social online now and on TV 🇫🇷🇩🇪 27 September.👇

#earlymodern #history
📝 Sur @artefr.bsky.social le 27.09 / déjà en ligne : le doc "Marie Stuart, l'énigme des lettres codées" d’Augustin Viatte retrace le destin tragique de "la reine maudite" et l'aventure palpitante du décryptage de sa correspondance secrète. #Histoire
Marie Stuart, l’énigme des lettres codées - Regarder le documentaire complet | ARTE
Début 2023, trois "casseurs de code" amateurs annoncent avoir retrouvé et déchiffré une cinquantaine de missives de Marie Stuart. Ce documentaire retrace en parallèle le destin tragique de la reine d’...
www.arte.tv
The wonderful documentary of my friends George, Norbert and Satoshi’s discovery and decipherment of #MaryQueenofScots lost letters.

Beautifully crafted by writer and director Augustin Viatte.

On @artefr.bsky.social online now and on TV 🇫🇷🇩🇪 27 September.👇

#earlymodern #history
📝 Sur @artefr.bsky.social le 27.09 / déjà en ligne : le doc "Marie Stuart, l'énigme des lettres codées" d’Augustin Viatte retrace le destin tragique de "la reine maudite" et l'aventure palpitante du décryptage de sa correspondance secrète. #Histoire
Marie Stuart, l’énigme des lettres codées - Regarder le documentaire complet | ARTE
Début 2023, trois "casseurs de code" amateurs annoncent avoir retrouvé et déchiffré une cinquantaine de missives de Marie Stuart. Ce documentaire retrace en parallèle le destin tragique de la reine d’...
www.arte.tv
Chamberlain’s letters are great. Thanks for sharing. Tripping on the stairs needn’t mean James was tipsy, of course, and the existence of the newsletter suggests that the fall was not covered up.
Reposted by Alexander Courtney
New podcast episode available in French! Join our host @vic-de-valois.bsky.social and guest speaker Fanny Giraudier as they discuss the "Violence à la cour française" conference.

Listen here or on your favourite podcast platform : www.buzzsprout.com/1934722/epis...
Reposted by Alexander Courtney
📣Calling all new research students in history & historical subjects. Do you want to learn how the IHR can help you during your studies?

Join us on the 8 October to find out more.

@royalhistsoc.org @ihrhistorylab.bsky.social @historyandpolicy.bsky.social @chppc.bsky.social

bit.ly/41UPOyG
It’s wonderful public interest in James VI & I’s life and reign is rising, AND that readers can turn to several new books about him.📚

Here are Steven Veerapen, Clare Jackson, Steven Reid and me discussing our man; Laura Stewart chairing.
#Stuarts #KingJames400 #History #Tudors #earlymodern
James VI of Scotland became Elizabeth’s successor peacefully and was welcomed into England, people’s ‘eyes flaming nothing but sparks of affection’ towards him (as he put it).

There was no better supported claimant; no one with a stronger claim.

#Tudors #KingJames400 #history #earlymodern
Thank you, Neil. This is most kind! I really enjoy that moment of Jacobean political psalmody!
Did the dying Elizabeth I signal that she approved of James VI as her successor? Who knows?! What matters is the story’s meaning.

It’s well known that accounts were circulated by English officials as a supplementary argument for James’s lawful claim.
#Tudors #KingJames400 #earlymodern
Cynthia Fry’s thesis is marvellous - a must-read.

My view is that, yes, the succession was his great goal - not his ‘single’ goal as he didn’t have that luxury.

He was ‘bovvered’ but he was also adept at not making his ‘face look bovvered’!

(One for discussion on BBC Breakfast 🤔?!)
Q. Who had the strongest claim to succeed Elizabeth I? Answer: James VI (as was widely accepted at the time).

Here, though, is the succession according to an opponent of James’s claim, Robert Persons, in 1594/5. An elaborate effort to muddy the waters.

#Tudors #KingJames400 #earlymodern
Thanks, Gabby! I’m thrilled!
Excited to share that I’ve been elected to an IHR Fellowship! ☺️

I have been supported by, and have learnt so much from, many #earlymodern scholars
@ihr.bsky.social over the years.

I’m thrilled now to have the opportunity to join the Institute and contribute to its work in this way.
Norenges be not ye onlie fruict!

What is the reference for Copley’s tale, Neil?

Great posting!
Reposted by Alexander Courtney
Many congratulations to my colleague Emily Vine on the publication of her first monograph! 🎉🥳

Emily expertly explores the crowded metropolis as a place where households of different faiths coexisted during a period of intense change (1605-1780).

#EarlyModern 🗃️
Delighted that the print copies of my first book 'Birth, Death, and Domestic Religion in early modern London', just published with @universitypress.cambridge.org, have arrived! 📚📚📚
A photo of the author holding up a copy of her book, which has a red cover.
Reposted by Alexander Courtney
Le 26 août à 21h sur France 2 !

Tuer au nom de Dieu, un film de Hugues Nancy, librement inspiré de Tous ceux qui tombent !