ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, 1ST MARQUESS of Argyll, wrote these words to his children as he awaited execution for treason in 1661. The position of the powerful Clan Campbell was threatened due to Argyll's political failings during Cromwell's occupation of Scotland, beginning in 1651 and lasting until the 1660 Restoration. His thirty-two-year-old son, Archibald, was the family's hope for sociopolitical salvation. In his advice on how to resurrect the family's legacy, the marquess began with religion, ‘[t]his being your greatest concernment the director of all your actions’. He went on to argue that devoutness, zeal, and piety in the practice of religion were critical in being respected as a man, ‘remember this, that he that is not truly religious, will hardly be esteemed’, and indeed if one is hypocritical in their faith, this will be poorly reflected in ‘your greatness and honour’. For his son to earn his way back into the ranks of noble society and salvage the future of Clan Campbell, the marquess believed that piety would lead the way, offering him the metaphor, ‘like the Diamond out-shines the lustre of all other Jewels. A religious heart and a clear conscience will make you truly conspicuous’. The Marquess of Argyll penned these words just over one hundred years after the Reformation Parliament met and adopted the Scots Confession of Faith. During the intervening years, being a strong, powerful, and successful man became inextricably linked to being a devout reformed Christian.

As this collection attests, Scottish masculinity has meant many different things in different contexts, and it has been a powerful force in shaping the culture and institutions of the country. Within the early modern context there were a plurality of gender experiences and expectations for men. Scholars of early modern British masculinity have largely focused on how manhood both shaped, and was shaped by, the social, economic, and political order.