‘Men may leif without ane king / Ane king but men may beir no crowne’ (‘Princely Liberality’, Maitland Folio MS).

This rather blunt reminder to a ruler that the security of his crown is contingent upon the satisfaction of his subjects (a relationship which is here not necessarily figured as symbiotic) is one of two anonymous poems in the Maitland Folio manuscript addressed to kings at New Year. The stern tone reflects elements of sixteenth-century Scots political discourse in which the rights of subjects to resist and depose inadequate rulers were asserted, and the Scots tendency to direct often profoundly didactic literature to monarchs is well-attested. However, this particular poem's temporal setting at New Year introduces another dimension to the familiar advisory tone. It is one of a group of Scots writings addressed to monarchs and presented as New Year poems (also known as ‘strena’ or ‘étrenne’). These are part of a European tradition in which, as Heal puts it, New Year formed an ‘opportunity for the gift of good advice, to friends and family, to readers and, taking advantage of the license of the festival, from counsellors to monarchs’. Not all Scots New Year poems are written for monarchs, but those which are display a marked concern with ‘correct’ regal behaviour, and the sometimes tense relationship between ruler, nation, and subject. This chapter examines a group of poems dating from c. 1500 to 1583, a period covering the reigns (and the minorities) of James IV, James V, Mary, Queen of Scots, and James VI. The anxiety generated by these repeated periods of minority rule is well attested in Scots literature, and Scots New Year poems are no outliers. James IV was the oldest to be crowned, at just 15; James V was 18 months old, while his daughter Mary was only seven days. James VI was 12 months old when he became king. Their reigns were characterised by periods of regency interspersed with (initially) youthful rule, and the literature of the time reflects an associated unease at this frequent turn of circumstance, and a perception that greedy regents, young rulers, and over-powerful counsellors can make the nation vulnerable.