"Brethren" of The Castalian Band
The circle of poets with known connections to the Scottish court include:
- King James VI
- Alexander Montgomerie (c. 1544–1598?)
- Patrick Hume of Polwarth (c. 1550-1609)
- Alexander Hume (c. 1557–1609) the younger brother of Patrick Hume
- William Fowler (1560–1612)
- John Stewart of Baldynneis (c. 1567–1605)
- Thomas Hudson (d. 1605)
- Robert Hudson, brother of Thomas
Membership was supposedly fluid and some figures, such as Montgomerie, were already established poets. French influences were particularly important for the King. James himself made translations of work by the Gascon soldier-poet du Bartas, and du Bartas in return translated James's own Lepanto. Du Bartas himself visited the Scottish Court on a diplomatic mission in 1587 during which time James unsuccessfully attempted to persuade him to stay.
Other 'Castalian' makars produced translation as well as original works. William Fowler, whose original poetry includes the sonnet sequence The Taratula of Love, made translations from Petrarch, while John Stewart produced an abridged translation of Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. Many Scots translations predated first translations of the same works in England.
Chief among the circle was arguably the soldier, courtier and makar Alexander Montgomerie. He had achieved celebrity after victory over Patrick Hume in The Flyting Betwixt Montgomerie and Polwart (c.1583). His many works include public poems such as The Navigatioun, a long allegory called The Cherry and the Slae, some devotional poems, and a large number of personal court lyrics sometimes modelled on poets such as Ronsard. Sonnets on various themes include an autobiographical sequence that deftly charts frustration with "the law's delay". Even when Montgomerie came to be politically excluded from the court sometime in the mid 1590s as a result of his Cathoic sympathies, he appears to have retained the affection of the King.
The court also attracted figures from furth of Scotland. The brothers Thomas and Robert Hudson from the North of England, were appointed as by James not only as poets but as court musicians helping to lead the musical "revival" he regarded as going hand-in-hand with his literary programme. Thomas produced translations as well as original work. Under James' patronage he was another translator of du Bartas.
Names on the fringes of court literary circles include:
- William Alexander, Earl of Stirling (1567–1640)
- Robert Aytoun (1569–1638)
Alexander and Ayton later represented a more anglicised stream of Scottish writing. They came to prominence more properly after the Union of the Crowns. Ayton was one of the first Scottish poets to have written explicitly in English, while Alexander wrote rhymed tragedies in a genre sometimes referred to as closet drama and assisted the King in his metrical translations of the Psalms of David.
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