This book was made possible by many people. First and foremost, I wish to express my gratitude to Professor Roger Mason who supervised the thesis from which this publication developed. He was unfailingly supportive and insightful during and after my doctorate. It is largely because of his encouragement that I discovered the delights of Scottish history. Great thanks are also due to the examiners of my thesis, Professor Jane Dawson and Dr Jacqueline Rose, who led me to ask new questions about sixteenth-century St Andrews.
Most of the research and writing for this book was undertaken in twenty-first-century St Andrews, and I cannot thank the members of the present day University of St Andrews enough. In particular, staff and students from the Institute for Scottish Historical Research, the Reformation Studies Institute, and the St Andrews Institute of Medieval Studies have been generous with their time, knowledge, and friendship. Especial thanks are owed to Professor Michael Brown, who supervised my MLitt dissertation and has continued to discuss patiently late medieval lordship and landholding. My views on the Scottish Reformation were also influenced by conversations with Dr Elizabeth Tapscott, with whom I tested many of the initial thoughts for this publication. Scholars working outside history were similarly generous – notably Professor Ian Bradley helped me see links between St Andrews’ former and contemporary religious significance.
The debt that historians owe to archivists is almost incalculable. Staff at the National Records of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland went above and beyond with their assistance. However, greatest thanks must go to the amazing team at the University of St Andrews Library’s Special Collections – this publication would have been unfeasible without their expertise. In particular, I should like to place on record my perpetual gratitude to Dr Norman Reid and Rachel Hart who showed me the potential of St Andrews’ late medieval and early modern property documents.
I am immensely grateful to Professor Bridget Heal and the wider team from the St Andrews Studies in Reformation History series for encouraging me to publish this work, and their patience while it was completed. I should also like to thank Francis Knikker and her colleagues at Brill for their help and guidance. My research was funded by the St Andrews Local History Foundation and the Schools Competition Act Settlement Trust. Their generous assistance made my studies possible.
My colleagues in the Smart History research team and at Andrew Melville Hall have also been a great support. Particular thanks are due to Perin
Finally, I should like to thank the residents of St Andrews past and present for creating a remarkable community. Across the generations so many different individuals have worked to make St Andrews a better place. If I have failed to understand their actions correctly, I can only apologise – and hope that a future author will set the record straight.