| History of the World around the time period of this faire: |
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| 1570 | The Earl of Lennox, father of Lord Darnley, is appointed Regent with support from Queen Elizabeth. |
| | The Regent, the Earl of Moray, is shot and killed at Linlithgow by an assailant hiding in the home of the Catholic Archbishop of St Andrews. |
| | The council of Trent publishes changes to the Latin Mass as a result of the Protestant Reformation. |
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| 1571 | Dumbarton Castle, under siege since January the year before, captured by Captain Thomas Crawford scaling the walls. |
| | Mary, still captive in England, is implicated in a plot by the Catholic Duke of Norfolk to use Spanish troops to overthrow Elizabeth. This undermines much of her remaining support in Scotland. |
| | Earl of Lennox, Regent of Scotland, murdered. Earl of Mar appointed Regent but he dies the following year. |
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| 1572 | John Knox, leading reformer of Church of Scotland, died. |
| | Pope Gregory XIII becomes pope. |
| | Tycho Brahe observes supernova in Casseopeia. |
| | The Earl of Morton becomes Regent and is effectively ruler of Scotland for the next six years. |
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| 1573 | Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange executed, after defending Edinburgh Castle on behalf of Mary Queen of Scots for 15 years. |
| | The fall of Edinburgh Castle as the last bastion of support for Mary in Scotland brings three years of civil war to an end. |
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| 1574 | Anne of Denmark, wife of James VI, born. |
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| 1576 | First Bible (New Testament) printed in Scotland by Bassandyne. |
| | Maximillian II dies. |
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| 1578 | James VI takes over the government of Scotland at the age of 12. |
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| 1580 | Francis Drake returns to England after circumnavigating the globe. |
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| 1581 | The ex-Regent, the Earl of Morton, is executed for his alleged involvement in the murder of Darnley, fourteen years earlier. |
| | James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, beheaded in Edinburgh Grassmarket, accused of the murder of Lord Darnley. |
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| 1582 | James VI (aged nearly 8) abducted and taken to the Castle of Ruthven by the Earls of Mar and Gowrie - the so-called "Ruthven Raid". |
| | University of Edinburgh founded. |
| | Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar and eliminates October 5-14. |
| | 16 year old King James VI is taken prisoner by the Earl of Gowrie and the "Lords Enterprisers" at Ruthven Castle now Huntingtower Castle near Perth. The "Ruthven Raid" was designed to increase the grip of the conspirators on power by controlling the King. |
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| 1583 | James VI escaped from Castle Ruthven. |
| | James VI tricks his captors into allowing him to attend a feast at St Andrews Castle, where he escapes from them and subsequently forgives them. |
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| 1584 | Parliament declared James VI head of both the church - the Kirk - and the state in the face of increasing efforts by the Kirk to limit his power. |
| | The Lords Enterprisers take St Andrews Castle in an effort to overthrow James VI, now aged 18. He musters an army and recaptures it, executing the Earl of Gowrie and exiling other conspirators to England. |
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| 1585 | Chocolate introduced to Europe commercially. |
| | Pope Sixtus V becomes pope. |
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