William Calin, The Lily and the Thistle: The French Tradition and 
the Older Literature of Scotland. Toronto: University of Toronto 
Press, 2014, 432 pp. 

This study examines the French impact on medieval and 
Renaissance Scottish literature. Progressing from the notion that 
“although less pervasive in Scotland, and with Scottish writers coming 
under a strong English influence, French remained a powerful focus 
for all literature in the vernacular” (3), Calin explains that his study 
was intended, in part, to form a sequel to his 1994 book entitled 
French Tradition and the Literature of Medieval England. Calin aligns 
The Lily and the Thistle with critical works of scholars including Janet 
M. Smith (Scottish literature) and R.D.S. Jack (Italian literature). 
Focusing on extant written texts, Calin suggests that much of 
traditional, medieval, and early modern Scottish culture that scholars 
have traditionally thought to be either native to Scotland or to have 
originated from England, in fact, has extraordinarily international (and 
French) roots. By examining Scottish works against an international 
backdrop, Calin underscores why French literary genres and ways of 
expression were popular in the Scotland of the eras under evaluation.  

Part One of The Lily and the Thistle presents medieval 
narrative texts in the high courtly mode (Chaucerian texts). Preferring 
to call such narratives “tales of love,” Calin explores in five chapters a 
range of primary texts including The Kingis Quair (King James I), The 
Testament of Cresseid (Robert Henryson), The Palice of Honour 
(Gavin Douglas), The Goldyn Targe, and The Thrissill and the Rois 
(William Dunbar), and The Court of Venus (John Rolland). These 
texts can be described as courtly narratives that treat both love and 
the psychology of lovers (13). Part Two presents comical, didactic, 
and satirical texts. Calin examines in five chapters a variety of texts 
including Henryson’s Morall Fabillis, Dunbar’s Tretis of the Tua Mariit 
Wemen and the Wedo, three texts by David Lyndsay including Ane 
Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis, The Testament of the Papyngo, and 
Squyer Meldrum, and The Freiris of Berwik (a “fabliau”) and King 
Hart. In this section, Calin endeavors to de-compartmentalize modes 
of clerical provenance (83). Part Three presents “verse romances” 
many of which come either from the Arthurian tradition or are inspired 
by it. Calin devotes five chapters to romances including Fergus, 
Lancelot of the Laik, Golagros and Gawane, The Taill of Rauf 
Coilyear, and Eger and Grime. Lastly, Part Four explores “soundings” 
of the Scottish Renaissance characterized by an interest in “belles 
lettres,” Greco-Roman myths, and themes of love, of life, and of 
man’s unique destiny (221). In four chapters, Calin examines poetry 
by Mary Queen of Scots, King James VI, William Alexander’s The 
Monarchchick Tragedies, and the work of William Drummond of 
Hawthornden. The book’s Conclusion reinforces the thesis that one 
should not be surprised that French literature impacted the medieval 

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and Renaissance literature of Scotland. This book offers a thought-
provoking perspective on the influence of French literature on a part 
of Europe that has largely remained overlooked. 

The Lily and the Thistle thus assesses diverse medieval 
narrative texts in several genres including the high courtly mode 
(analogous to the French “dits amoureux”), comic, didactic, and 
satirical texts, and also the Scottish romance. Calin’s investigation 
lends particular focus toward texts originally created in French 
including Roman de Fergus of the Arthurian tradition, as well as to 
the lyrics of Mary Queen of Scots and relatively obscure writers from 
the French and Scottish literary canons. His book describes waves of 
French influence over several centuries by undertaking a diachronic 
study that embraces both the medieval and the Renaissance periods. 
Calin’s emphasis on French literary works that either parallel or 
inspired works of the Scottish literary tradition creates an interesting 
view on the ways in which Scottish writers of the medieval and 
Renaissance periods adapted literary styles for their local audiences. 
In doing so, he ascribes the Scottish poets to the European tradition 
of writers whose works focused on important topics of the era 
including love, morality, and the passage of time. More significantly, 
perhaps, Calin shows how these Scottish writers participated in 
translatio studii, or the “transmission of culture.” In his examination of 
The Kingis Quair, attributed to King James I, for example, through the 
“translation” of  the theme of love, Calin shows how the “themes, 
motifs, and doctrine in the Quair follow closely upon those found in 
the French love allegories of the time” (16). 

 Some of the most intriguing pages of this book are devoted 
to the poetic writings of Mary Queen of Scots. Calin does not stray 
from a literary focus on Mary’s small corpus of French poetry that he 
aligns with the French women’s writings of a number of poets 
including Christine de Pizan and Louise Labé (230). In Calin’s 
opinion, “Mary Queen of Scots, if not a great poet, is a very good 
one” (234). He openly denounces the claims of some scholars who 
have posited that Mary was not actually the author of her “Casket 
Sonnets” (235). Calin’s inward-looking perspective restricts 
explanations that extend beyond the literary context. This viewpoint, 
however, is not of itself problematic. Nevertheless, such a viewpoint 
could impede the work of the historian who might question the 
authenticity of Mary’s “Casket Sonnets.” 

 
Richard J. Gray II    
Ashland University 
 

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