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Review
Michael Brown has done an admirable job ... this is a highly readable survey that provides an excellent introduction to the period. --Scotia
Review
The fruit of recent scholarship is gathered into a fresh, readable, informative, and balanced account. The original Edinburgh History of Scotland was the standard Scottish historical narrative for nearly two generations; if this volume is typical, its replacement will fulfill that role for at least as long ! Highly recommended. Choice This is a superb book which should be widely read. History: The Journal of the Historical Association Michael Brown has done an admirable job ! this is a highly readable survey that provides an excellent introduction to the period. Scotia The fruit of recent scholarship is gathered into a fresh, readable, informative, and balanced account. The original Edinburgh History of Scotland was the standard Scottish historical narrative for nearly two generations; if this volume is typical, its replacement will fulfill that role for at least as long ! Highly recommended. This is a superb book which should be widely read. Michael Brown has done an admirable job ! this is a highly readable survey that provides an excellent introduction to the period.
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The years between the reign of King Alexander II in the first half of the thirteenth century and the accession of the Stewarts in the later fourteenth century, which are dealt with in this volume, have not normally been regarded as a single era in the hist Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
The years between the reign of King Alexander II in the first half of the thirteenth century and the accession of the Stewarts in the later fourteenth century, which are dealt with in this volume, have not normally been regarded as a single era in the hist Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is well researched from prime sources as much as possible, and attempts to present a balanced view of a complex period from which eventually emerged a Scottish Kingdom that survived and develope in its own way.
The whole of the country is dealt with, and many different aspects including the dilemmas faced by everyone just to ensure their own survival.
It is certainly thought provoking and challenges some of the usual simplistic assumptions.
JIB
The whole of the country is dealt with, and many different aspects including the dilemmas faced by everyone just to ensure their own survival.
It is certainly thought provoking and challenges some of the usual simplistic assumptions.
JIB
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Mel Gibson's Braveheart is not history
11 Dec 2004
Format:Paperback
If you are interested in the historical background to Mel Gibson's Braveheart, this might be the book you want. It turns out that Mel Gibson got the name of William Wallace right, and his stubborn refusal to yield to Edward Longshanks right, but not much else.
Scotland had enjoyed almost a century of internal peace under the kings David I, Alexander II, and Alexander III. When Alexander III died without a male heir the Scottish nobles became uneasy: even if Scotland had stabilized under "the Good King" Alexander, it was still an unruly place with ambituos noblemen and aggresive norse lords in the north and west. When his daughter (the maid of Norway) died in Orkney 1290, the [...] hit the fan - now the throne was up for grabs.
This book describes the old-fashioned political system of the Scottish kingdom, and why it became so vulnerable in a succesional crisis. It then continues with the complex political games in the crisis of the succesion - nobles switched allegiance as often as we change underwear. It is an interesting fact how international the Scottish crisis was: claimants to the throne came from Norway, Flanders, France, and England. The political intruiguing involved not only England and Scotland, but also Gwynnedd, Irish sub-kings, France, Holy Roman Empire, Scandinavia, and the Papal curia. William Wallace turns out to have been a comparatively minor character in all this.
Sometimes the sheer number of names is overwhelming, and there is a lack of pictures. The writing is a bit dry, and the subject gets a very, almost too, scholarly treatment.
The main strengths of the book, I think, are that the author thoroughly describes the causes of the political crisis that led to the wars and that he puts them into their European context.
Scotland had enjoyed almost a century of internal peace under the kings David I, Alexander II, and Alexander III. When Alexander III died without a male heir the Scottish nobles became uneasy: even if Scotland had stabilized under "the Good King" Alexander, it was still an unruly place with ambituos noblemen and aggresive norse lords in the north and west. When his daughter (the maid of Norway) died in Orkney 1290, the [...] hit the fan - now the throne was up for grabs.
This book describes the old-fashioned political system of the Scottish kingdom, and why it became so vulnerable in a succesional crisis. It then continues with the complex political games in the crisis of the succesion - nobles switched allegiance as often as we change underwear. It is an interesting fact how international the Scottish crisis was: claimants to the throne came from Norway, Flanders, France, and England. The political intruiguing involved not only England and Scotland, but also Gwynnedd, Irish sub-kings, France, Holy Roman Empire, Scandinavia, and the Papal curia. William Wallace turns out to have been a comparatively minor character in all this.
Sometimes the sheer number of names is overwhelming, and there is a lack of pictures. The writing is a bit dry, and the subject gets a very, almost too, scholarly treatment.
The main strengths of the book, I think, are that the author thoroughly describes the causes of the political crisis that led to the wars and that he puts them into their European context.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Great Book; Misleading Title
8 Nov 2006
Format:Paperback
This is a very fine, very readable, and thoughtful history of medieval Scotland. It gives a very good context for the Scots "wars of independence." But very, very little of the book is actually about war. Don't go to this book if you want to know in more than the most general terms what happened at Stirling Bridge, Falkirk, or Bannockburn---the longest battle account is about one page.
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