Scotland's trade with Iberia in the later sixteenth century has been, until recently, a little researched subject. Previous scholarship on the relationship between this newly Calvinist Scottish kingdom and Spain as the centre of Counter Reformation intrigue usually focuses on conflict rather than commerce. Scotland, a country with a still volatile Catholic nobility, often in rebellion, was seen as a place which could provide a second front against England in the Anglo-Spanish war. Indeed the most detailed scholarly research, by David Worthington and Concepción Saenz-Cambra, has concentrated on the intentions and policies of the Spanish Habsburgs towards Scotland during this period. As Saenz-Cambra has pointed out, Scotland's political and religious instability at the beginning of James's adult reign, coupled with the rising influence of his Catholic cousin, Esme Stewart, the Earl of Lennox, made the kingdom increasingly attractive to Philip II. The Government of England, meanwhile, kept a wary eye on its northern neighbour, with the common perception that Scotland was politically insecure and in need of money enforcing the impression that the kingdom could be susceptible to Spanish influence. This view of Scotland as a geopolitical opportunity for Spain, however, is only one facet of Scotland's position in the Anglo-Spanish war, with Scotland's neutral status in the conflict affording opportunities for both Scottish and English commercial classes

This chapter investigates Scottish trade with Iberia during the conflict by bringing together numerous fleeting references in various secondary works and adding a significant amount of original research. Initially, this involves a brief discussion of examples of Scottish trade with Iberia, showing that this trade was more common than previously thought. A survey of the delicate political situation in which Scotland found herself during the Anglo-Spanish war follows, including the influence this had on trade, and the challenges that Scottish merchants faced due to the conflict. The last section will focus more particularly on the Scots who took advantage of the war by acting as intermediaries for their English counterparts, and the dangers that this could present to the merchants involved. As alluded to in the introduction, trade relations between Scotland and Iberia have, until recently, been a neglected area of early modern history, with references to Scots trading in Iberia appearing in secondary literature only as part of a wider study on a different topic, rather than as a standalone subject.