Essays on the Nobility of Medieval Scotland

The essays in this book, all by distinguished historians, illuminate the main activities, preoccupations and aspirations of the families whose territorial power and local leadership made them a central factor in medieval Scottish society. Issues discussed include the influence of Anglo-Norman England on earlier medieval Scotland, patterns of land accumulation by the aristocracy, noble residences, the legal and administrative aspects of baronial lordship, clientage, and dealings between magnates and the Church.

Throughout, the essays stress the importance of recognising that, before the Wars of Independence, the nobility of Scotland was closely bound by ties of kinship and property with the nobility in England and emphasise that the common assumption of perpetual opposition between baronage and the Crown is a myth. First published in 1985, these essays remain essential reading on the subject.

Auteur

Keith Stringer is Professor of Medieval British History at Lancaster University. His research focuses on medieval state-making, noble power-structures, religious reform, cultural exchanges, and the construction of individual, national and supra-national identities, with the emphasis on the developing Scottish and English polities (1100-1300), and the world of 'middle Britain' (1100-1400). His most recent publications include The Kings of Scots, the Liberty of Penrith and the Making of Britain (1237-1296) (2019), as well as (with others) Northern England and Southern Scotland in the Central Middle Ages (2017), and The Normans and the 'Norman Edge': Peoples, Polities and Identities on the Frontiers of Medieval Europe (2019).