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Viking Empires, first published in 2005, is a definitive global history of the Viking World.
In The Lordship of the Isles, twelve specialists offer new insights on the rise and fall of the MacDonalds of Islay and the greatest Gaelic lordship of later medieval Scotland. Portrayed most often as either the independently-minded last great patrons of Scottish Gaelic culture or as dangerous rivals to the Stewart kings for mastery of Scotland, this collection navigates through such opposed perspectives to re-examine the politics, culture, society and connections of Highland and Hebridean Scotland from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries. It delivers a compelling account of a land and people caught literally and figuratively between two worlds, those of the Atlantic and mainland Scotland, and of Gaelic and Anglophone culture. Contributors are David Caldwell, Sonja Cameron, Alastair Campbell, Alison Cathcart, Colin Martin, Tom McNeill, Lachlan Nicholson, Richard Oram, Michael Penman, Alasdair Ross, Geoffrey Stell and Sarah Thomas.
Moray and Badenoch is an area of geographical diversity and contrasting landscape, set in the heart of the Scottish Highlands. The region has been of great historical importance for centuries, controlling access to and from the far north of Scotland. As a result, the area has a wealth of archaeological remains and sites of historic interest: huge burial cairns near Aviemore date back to the Neolithic period, and signal the importance of the area as early as 3500 BC; Sueno's Stone, the 9th-century monolith, stands near Forres and bears scenes of Pictish battles and the bloody aftermath of war, the only one of its kind in Europe; Duffus Castle and Elgin Cathedral, both monuments to the growing wealth and power of the area in the Middle Ages; and Ruthven Barracks near Kingussie, captured and blown up the Jacobites on their march to Culloden.
Colourful and complex history of the Kings and Queens of Scotland
This handbook on the archaeology of prehistoric Scotland incorporates a gazetteer of key sites and monuments. It ranges from the seventh millennium BC, through the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age, to the emergence of the early historic kingdoms after the Celtic Iron Age.
The history of the Scottish monarchy is a long tale of triumph over adversity, characterised by the personal achievements of remarkable rulers who transformed their fragile kingdom into the master of northern Britain. The Kings and Queens of Scotland charts that process, from the earliest Scots and Pictish kings of around ad 400 through to the union of parliaments in 1707, tracing it through the lives of the men and women whose ambitions drove it forward on the often rocky path from its semi-mythical foundations to its integration into the Stewart kingdom of Great Britain. It is a route waymarked with such towering personalities as Macbeth, Robert the Bruce and Mary Queen of Scots, but directed also by a host of less well-known figures such as David I, who extended his kingdom almost to the gates of York, and James IV, builder of the finest navy in northern Europe. Their will and ambition, successes and failures not only shaped modern Scotland, but have left their mark throughout the British Isles and the wider world.
“An informative and engrossing work for anyone interested in the northern isle.” —Publishers Weekly In the decades following the invention of photography, Scotland became enamored of the new art. Over the next century, Scottish photographers captured a stunning visual record of their land, its people, and their mixed fortunes, hopes, and aspirations. Their achievements document a century of profound contrasts, of division, and of upheaval and change. Here are the triumphs of a self-confident Scotland, with the completion of the Forth Bridge and the stream of vessels down the Clyde to bind together a far-flung empire. But there were also injustices: the condition of the rural and urban poor, and the evictions that drove people from the land to seek work in the cities or in the New World. Gordon Highlanders drinking whiskey in the New Year celebrations; the caves of Staffa and their associations with the mythical Celtic hero, Fingal; the grandeur of Edinburgh Castle; the golfers of Scotscraig; and salmon fishing in the Ness Islands—this book brings the country to life for anyone who has enjoyed the rich character and landscape of this beguiling nation.
By equal measure state-builder and political unifier and ruthless opportunist and bloody-handed aggressor, Alexander II has been praised or vilified by past historians but has rarely been viewed in the round. This book explores the king's successes and failures, offering a fresh assessment of his contribution to the making of Scotland as a nation. It lifts the focus from an introspective national history to look at the man and his kingdom in wider British and European history, examining his international relationships and offering the first detailed analysis of the efforts to work out a lasting diplomatic solution to Anglo-Scottish conflict over his inherited claims to the northern counties ...
This volume explores aspects of the political, social, cultural, economic and religious development of Scotland in the reign of King Alexander II (1214-49). It constitutes the first full-length, multi-author study of the king and his reign. The nine contributors to the volume explore issues as diverse as the historiography of the reign, Anglo-Scottish relations, Church-State relations, economy and international trade, law, aristocratic symbolism, urban development and the territorial expansion of the kingdom. This book, the first major study of a reign which saw the Scottish monarchy achieve its mastery of northern mainland Britain, is of great importance to historians of medieval Scotland and the wider British Isles. The book is illustrated with 24 colour and b/w photographs and 5 maps and plans.
Daphne Oram (1925-2003) was one of the central figures in the development of British experimental electronic music. Having declined a place at the Royal College of Music to become a music balancer at the BBC, she went on to become the co-founder and first director of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. In 1972, she authored her only book, 'An Individual