The Complaynt of Scotland is a Scottish book printed in 1549 as propaganda during the war of the Rough Wooing against the Kingdom of England, and is an important work of the Scots language.
The letter of dedication to Mary of Guise compares her to virtuous and heroic women including Valeria daughter of Publius Valerius Poplicola, Cloelia, Lucretia, Penelope, Cornelia, Semiramis, Tomyris, and Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons.
[8] The book itself, subtitled "wyth ane exortatione to the thre estaits to be vigilante in the deffens of their public weil", contains a miscellany of stories, classical legends, biblical tales, ballads and allegories emphasising Scotland's separateness and the rewards of virtue and courage.
She hears the complaints of her three sons, the "Thrie Estaits" of Scottish society, and then offers her encouragement and rebuke to the clergy, nobility, and populace in turn.
[10] The English works it was aimed against included the pagan prophecies of Merlin to back up their claim of a united Great Britain, whilst the Complaynt stuck to Christian ideals.