200	Scotland
Here Hanham's much better book fills an important gap.125*
One thing that Scottish historians do handle well is the story
of buildings.1257
(b)  THE SIXTEENTH  CENTURY
The last strictly medieval king of Scotland has received a
biography;1258 his moderately Renaissance successor has been
studied with a view to discovering what he felt about Church
reform (he was not against it).1259 Englishmen usually forget
that the notorious problem of England's northern frontier was
also Scotland's notorious problem of a southern frontier; Rae's
book at last deprives them of excuses for such one-sidedness.1260
But the main part of the story in this century, in Scotland
even more than elsewhere, must be the Reformation. Dickin-
son's excellent edition of John Knox's own account gives that
powerful document a fresh chance to dominate the scene;1261
but Donaldson's researches have shown that the truth differs
quite markedly from the presbyterian tradition, a piece of
iconoclasm which exposed the scholar to the expected fury of
entrenched convictions.1262 Less contemptuous of traditions
is Ridley's life of Knox, a massive production which sorts out
many facts and may not be particularly misleading in making
its hero (intentionally?) a most unpleasant man.1263 Donald-
son further adds some new information on the prehistory of
1258 H. J. Hanham, Scottish Nationalism. L: Faber: 1969. Pp. 250.
""John G. Dunbar, The Historical Architecture of Scotland. L: Bats-
ford: 1966. Pp. 268.
i«s r. l, Mackie, King James IV of Scotland. Edinburgh: Oliver &
Boyd: 1958. Pp. 300. Rev: EHR 74, 153.
1*59 j, Wilson Ferguson, 'James V and the Scottish Church*, Har-
bison Ft (n. 128), 52-76.
me Thomas I. Rae, The Administration of the Scottish Frontier, 1513-
1603. Edinburgh UP: 1966. Pp. vii, 294. Rev: EHR 83, 392.
isei \Villiam Croft Dickinson, ed., John Knox's History of the Reforma-
tion in Scotland, 2 vols. Edinburgh: Nelson: 1949. Pp. cix, 374; 498.
1M* Gordon Donaldson, The Scottish Reformation. CUP: 1960. Pp.
viii, 242. Rev: EHR 76, 7i5fF. - Idem, 'The Scottish episcopate
and the Reformation*, EHR 60 (1945), 349-64.
*«3 Jasper Ridley, John Knox. O: Clarendon: 1968. Pp. vii, 596.