The Wars of Scotland: Scotland, 1214-1371 (The New History of Scotland) [Hardcover]

Michael Brown (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0748612378 | ISBN-13: 978-0748612376 | Publication Date: August 11, 2004

The Wars of Scotland is the story of the pivotal period in Scottish history between 1214 and 1371. The century and a half between the death of King William the Lion and the accession of the Stewarts witnessed major changes in the internal character of the kingdom and its place in the wider European world. The opening decades of this era seemed to be dominated by the continued development of a defined Scottish realm but the crisis which engulfed the kings and their people meant that issues of war and allegiance would make fourteenth-century Scotland a very different place. This book is the first detailed discussion of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries as a single period of both developing and fragmenting political hierarchies and communities. The Wars of Scotland provides a political narrative which places events in their immediate context as well as highlighting special issues and groups in thematic chapters. It also introduces a new discussion of the stability and unity of Scotland as a realm and community and of the impact of war and dynastic crisis on a Medieval state.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The fruit of recent scholarship is gathered into a fresh, readable, informative, and balanced account.... Highly recommended.

(Choice 7/1/05)

Michael Brown has done an admirable job... This is a highly readable survey that provides an excellent introduction to the period.

(J.S. Hamilton Scotia )

This is an important book... This is a superb book that should be widely read.

(Norman Macdougall History )

About the Author

Michael Brown is a professor at the University of St Andrews, Scotland.

(Vol. XXVII 2003)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press (August 11, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0748612378
• ISBN-13: 978-0748612376
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,930,369 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mel Gibson's Braveheart is not history, December 10, 2004

By 

isala "Isabel and Lars" (London, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wars of Scotland: Scotland, 1214-1371 (The New History of Scotland) (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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book; Misleading Title, November 8, 2006

By 

Theophanu (Hattiesburg, MS USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wars of Scotland: Scotland, 1214-1371 (The New History of Scotland) (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.