| Scottish Kingship 1306-1542: Essays In Honour Of Norman Macdougall. - Edited by Michael Brown and Roland Tanner. |
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Bearing in mind that the monarchy debate is always with us, the reasons for its establishment, survival and its importance to the Scottish nation make for an enduringly interesting study.
In Scottish Kingship 1306-1542: Essays In Honour Of Norman Macdougall the reader is privileged to learn about late medieval kingship from respected historians who have all published definitive books or theses on one or more of the Bruce and Stewart monarchs.
Norman Macdougall was formerly from the Department of Scottish History at St Andrews University. His two landmark books published in the 1980s on James III and James IV revolutionised the understanding of late medieval monarchy and it is in honour of him that his former students have written short distillations of the reigns of each of the 10 kings with a revealing chapter on Queenship by Fiona Downie.
The studies in this book demonstrate that the monarchy provided the Scots with a focus for their national identity and gave Scotland a recognised status in Europe. It acted as the glue which held the country together politically and was seen as the accepted centre of justice in a diverse realm. In those days Scottish independence revolved around the kings in whose name it existed.
That they were all such different men in their private lives and public persona makes this an absorbing read. Michael Penman tells us that Robert I whose “flint-edged and adaptable response to his fate” based his own style of rule and his recasting of the role of kingship on that of his early antagonist, the formidable Edward I of England.
His son, David II, who spent so much time in captivity in England was absorbed and humiliated both by his inability to sire a son and his hatred of his heir and uncle, the first Stewart king. Robert II had the very different problem of keeping the peace between his two large and ambitious families.
His heir, Robert III, was handicapped by a leg injury and the country more or less ruled by his brother, the Duke of Albany who became governor of Scotland during the minority and captivity of his nephew, James I, who had him executed for treason. James I’s authoritarian rule was to lead to his own assassination at Perth.
James II’s reign, begun when he was a mere six years old, was largely dominated by his power struggle with the Black Douglas family. His aims were to keep the peace, prevent acts of violence and advance the status of royal justice. High aims, but James’ personal intransigence led to an even greater degree of authoritarianism.
Roland Tanner’s essay on James III discusses Norman Macdougall’s earlier judgement that the king was an “aloof, overbearing and vindictive ruler whose dangerously exalted concept of Stewart kingship confounded his friends and eventually proved a godsend to his enemies”. He was killed by his own subjects at the Battle of Sauchieburn in 1488.
James IV is compared to a Renaissance prince.
James V was certainly interested in Henry VIII’s royal supremacy over the Church.
These essays capture the essence and flavour of the different reigns and distil the most recent thoughts on the practice, importance and character of our late medieval kings, each of whom contributed to making our nation what it is today.
This book is a privilege to read. |
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