Download or read book Strathclyde and the Anglo Saxons in the Viking Age written by Tim Clarkson and published by Birlinn. This book was released on 2014-12-21 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book traces the history of relations between the kingdom of Strathclyde and Anglo-Saxon England in the Viking period of the ninth to eleventh centuries AD. It puts the spotlight on the North Britons or 'Cumbrians', an ancient people whose kings ruled from a power-base at Govan on the western side of present-day Glasgow. In the tenth century, these kings extended their rule southward from Clydesdale to the southern shore of the Solway Firth, bringing their language and culture to a region that had been in English hands for more than two hundred years. They played a key role in many of the great political events of the time, whether leading their armies in battle or forging treaties to preserve a fragile peace. Their extensive realm, which was also known as 'Cumbria', was eventually conquered by the Scots, but is still remembered today in the name of an English county. How this county acquired the name of a long-vanished kingdom centred on the River Clyde is one of the topics covered in this book.It is part of a wider history that forms an important chapter in the story of how England and Scotland emerged from the early medieval period or 'Dark Ages' as the countries we know today.
Download or read book Strathclyde and the Anglo Saxons in the Viking Age written by T. J. Clarkson and published by John Donald. This book was released on 2014 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book traces the history of relations between the kingdom of Strathclyde and Anglo-Saxon England in the Viking period of the ninth to eleventh centuries AD. It puts the spotlight on the North Britons or 'Cumbrians', an ancient people whose kings ruled from a power-base at Govan on the western side of present-day Glasgow. In the tenth century, these kings extended their rule southward from Clydesdale to the southern shore of the Solway Firth, bringing their language and culture to a region that had been in English hands for more than two hundred years. They played a key role in many of the great political events of the time, whether leading their armies in battle or forging treaties to preserve a fragile peace. Their extensive realm, which was also known as 'Cumbria', was eventually conquered by the Scots, but is still remembered today in the name of an English county. How this county acquired the name of a long-vanished kingdom centred on the River Clyde is one of the topics covered in this book.It is part of a wider history that forms an important chapter in the story of how England and Scotland emerged from the early medieval period or 'Dark Ages' as the countries we know today.
Download or read book The Makers of Scotland written by Tim Clarkson and published by Birlinn. This book was released on 2012-09-28 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the first millennium AD the most northerly part of Britain evolved into the country known today as Scotland. The transition was a long process of social and political change driven by the ambitions of powerful warlords. At first these men were tribal chiefs, Roman generals or rulers of small kingdoms. Later, after the Romans departed, the initiative was seized by dynamic warrior-kings who campaigned far beyond their own borders. Armies of Picts, Scots, Vikings, Britons and Anglo-Saxons fought each other for supremacy. From Lothian to Orkney, from Fife to the Isle of Skye, fierce battles were won and lost. By AD 1000 the political situation had changed for ever. Led by a dynasty of Gaelic-speaking kings the Picts and Scots began to forge a single, unified nation which transcended past enmities. In this book the remarkable story of how ancient North Britain became the medieval kingdom of Scotland is told.
Download or read book A Political History of Scotland 1832 1924 written by Iain G. C. Hutchison and published by Birlinn Ltd. This book was released on 2003-11-24 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this way it provides an illuminating perspective and serves as a corrective to both Scoto-centric and Anglo-centric interpretations of events. Previous studies have tended to concentrate on the resources of the main record repositories in London and Edinburgh, and, while these collections are indispensable for any interpretation of the period, they do tend to highlight two types of politics more than others - the political operations of the great landed estates and the 'high politics' of the front benchers - and they are not always fully representative of all parts of Scotland. This book therefore has paid attention to a wide variety of source material in private hands and in local record centres to redress the balance and provide a more balanced picture. This scholarly but very readable study will appeal to all those with an interest in the political history of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Download or read book thelfl d written by Tim Clarkson and published by Birlinn Ltd. This book was released on 2019-09-05 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true story of the Lady of the Mercians. At the end of the ninth century AD, a large part of what is now England was controlled by the Vikings – heathen warriors from Scandinavia who had been attacking the British Isles for more than a hundred years. Alfred the Great, king of Wessex, was determined to regain the conquered lands but his death in 899 meant that the task passed to his son Edward. In the early 900s, Edward led a great fightback against the Viking armies. He was assisted by the English rulers of Mercia: Lord Æthelred and his wife Æthelflæd (Edward's sister). After her husband's death, Æthelflæd ruled Mercia on her own, leading the army to war and working with her brother to achieve their father's aims. Known to history as the Lady of the Mercians, she earned a reputation as a competent general and was feared by her enemies. She helped to save England from the Vikings and is one of the most famous women of the Dark Ages. This book, published 1100 years after her death, tells her remarkable story.
Download or read book Women in Scotland c 1100 c 1750 written by Elizabeth L. Ewan and published by Birlinn Ltd. This book was released on 1999-11-16 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of essays addresses women in Scotland in the medieval and early modem period, drawing on archival sources from Court of Session records to Middle Scots poetry. The editors argue persuasively that it is important to know about Scotswomen from all social levels. The book includes a time line and introductory bibliographical essay. The twenty essays in the collection are arranged under the themes of religion, literature, legal history, the economy, politics and the family. They demonstrate the connections between Scottish women's experience and those in England and the continent, as well as highlighting what was unique for the history of Scottish women. Through this comprehensive review of the feminine situation during more than six hundred years of Scottish history, the reader will discover how women really lived and what they really thought, whatever their place in society.
Download or read book The Celtic Placenames of Scotland written by William J. Watson and published by Birlinn Ltd. This book was released on 2011-06-20 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1926, this book remains the best and most comprehensive guide to the Celtic place-names of Scotland and is essential reading for anyone interested in Scottish history and the derivations of place-names the length and breadth of the country. It is divided into sections dealing with early names, territorial divisions, general surveys of areas and also looks at saints, church terms and river names. As the standard reference work on the subject it has never been surpassed. This edition contains a new introduction which includes biographical material about the author, together with corrigenda and addenda.
Download or read book The Fortress Kingdom written by Paul Hill and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2022-10-21 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this the second part of his four-volume military and political history of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom, Paul Hill follows the careers of Æthelflæd, Alfred the Great’s eldest daughter, and Edward the Elder, Alfred’s eldest son, as they campaigned to expand their rule after Alfred’s death. They faced, as Alfred had done, the full force of Danish hostility during the early years of the tenth century, a period of unrelenting turbulence and open warfare. But through their military strength, in particular their strategy of fortress building, they retained their hold on the kingdom and conquered lands which had been under Danish lords for generations. Æthelflæd’s forces captured Derby and Leicester by both force and diplomacy. Edward’s power was always immense. How each of them used forts (burhs) to hold territory, is explored. Fortifications across central England became key. These included Bridgnorth, Tamworth, Stafford, Warwick, Chirbury and Runcorn (Æthelflæd) and also Hertford, Witham, Buckingham, Bedford and Maldon (Edward), to name a few. Paul Hill’s absorbing narrative incorporates the latest theories and evidence for the military organization and capabilities of the Anglo-Saxons and their Danish adversaries. His book gives the reader a detailed and dramatic insight into a very sophisticated Anglo-Saxon kingdom.
Download or read book The British Confederate written by Allan I. MacInnes and published by Birlinn Ltd. This book was released on 2011-03-01 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The interplay of roles of the Marquess of Argyll, as clan chief, Scottish magnate and influential British statesman, make him a worthy counterpoint to Cromwell. This book reviews Argyll's formative influence in shaping British frontier policy during the period 1607–38 and his radical, financially creative and highly partial leadership of the Covenanting Movement in Scotland, 1638–45, when Covenanters rather than Royalists or Parliamentarians directed the political agenda in Britain. It examines his role as reluctant but calculated revolutionary in pursuing confessional confederation throughout the British Isles, and in restoring Scotland's international relations particularly with France. His ambivalent role as a military leader is contrasted with that of his genius as a political operator, 1646–51. Reappraising his trial and execution as a scapegoat for reputedly collaborating with Oliver Cromwell and the regicides who executed Charles I in the 1650s, it rehabilitates Argyll's reputation as a tarnished Covenanting hero rather than an unalloyed Royalist villain. The book is firmly grounded in public and private archival sources in the UK, the USA and Scandinavia, and draws especially on privileged access to archives in Inveraray Castle, Argyllshire. It should appeal to those interested in clanship, civil war and British state formation.
Download or read book The Rough Wooings written by Marcus Merriman and published by Birlinn Ltd. This book was released on 2000-12-27 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 'Rough Wooings', fought by major figures of sixteenth-century Europe for the hand of the young Mary Queen of Scots, were wars as intense, wide-ranging and devastating as the wars of the three Edwards which ravaged fourteenth-century Scotland. But the Wooings were wars of independence as well. As the kings of England and France vied to control the bestowing of Mary's hand in marriage, so Scotland itself strove to remain free of them. And Scotland won, although it was a close-run thing. The politics and international diplomacy involved were as sophisticated and complex as the century provides; the warfare and political literature as revolutionary and modern as for any part of Europe. Protestant zealots were forged on its anvil; massive navies ranged the North Sea; Italian military technology was brought to bear. All for one of the most fascinating queens in history. This is the story of her beginning, a rich and vibrant epic involving many of the major figures of early modern history: Henry VIII of England, François I and Henri II of France bestride the canvas, but even they cannot obscure the beguiling figure of the young Mary Queen of Scots.
Download or read book James II written by Christine McGladdery and published by Birlinn Ltd. This book was released on 2015-07-06 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this study of the reign of James II of Scotland, the king is viewed in the context of the Stewart monarchy, from his struggles to overcome his early adversity and the legacy of his father's style of kingship, to the serious political crises of his reign. The relations between the king and his subjects, and the complex balance of power in medieval Scotland are examined, particularly the significant crisis precipitated by James II's attack on the Black Douglases, the greatest of all late medieval magnate families. The changing nature of political involvement among the nobility and the role of Parliament in influencing events are explored, as are the efforts of the king to recover and promote royal authority in the final years of his reign. The role of James II in the wider European context is also studied with a view to shedding light on contemporary perceptions of the Stewart monarchy both at home and abroad. The study is based on contemporary chronicle and official sources, and consideration is also given to later, highly coloured views of James II, which have influenced popular views of the king to the present day.
Download or read book Glencoe and the End of the Highland War written by Paul Hopkins and published by Birlinn Ltd. This book was released on 2001-01-01 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Paul Hopkins, an authority on early Jacobitism, sets the Massacre of Glencoe in its true context. The book describes the tensions in the Highlands between the Restoration and the End of the Revolution and the influence on the Highlands of national politics. Besides filling a blank in our knowledge of the Highlands in the decade following the Massacre, the book transforms our perspective on lowlands politics by showing that the Inquiry was part of a secret patriotic campaign to break the aristocracy's political stranglehold and increase the Scottish parliament's powers.
Download or read book Alexander III 1249 1286 written by Norman H. Reid and published by Birlinn Ltd. This book was released on 2019-05-23 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Saltire Society Scottish History Book of the Year 2019 Presiding over an age of relative peace and prosperity, Alexander III represented the zenith of Scottish medieval kingship. The events which followed his early and unexpected death plunged Scotland into turmoil, and into a period of warfare and internal decline which almost brought about the demise of the Scottish state. This study fills a serious gap in the historiography of medieval Scotland. For many decades, even centuries, Scotland's medieval kingship has been regarded as a close likeness of the English monarchy, having been 'modernised' in that image by the twelfth- and thirteenth-century kings, who had close relationships with their southern counterparts. Recent research has cast doubt on that view, and this examination of Alexander III's reign is based on a view of Scottish kingship which depends on much firmer continuity with its earlier, celtic past. It challenges accepted truth, revealing that the nature of state and government, and the relationships between ruler and subject, were quite different from the previous 'received view'. On the cusp of a dynastic catastrophe which led to economic and political disaster, Alexander III's reign captures a snapshot of Scotland at the end of a period of sustained peace and development: a view of the medieval state as it really was.
Download or read book David II written by Michael Penman and published by Birlinn Ltd. This book was released on 2005-02-22 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: David II (1329–1371), son of the hero King of Scots, Robert Bruce (1306–1329), has suffered a harsh historical press, condemned as a disastrous general, a womaniser and a sympathiser with Scotland's 'auld enemy', England. Bringing together evidence from Scotland, England and France, Michael Penman offers a different view: that of a child king who survived usurpation, English invasion, exile and eleven years of English captivity after defeat in battle in 1326 to emerge as a formidable ruler of Scotland. Learning from Philip VI of France and Edward III of England in turn, David became the charismatic patron of a vibrant court focused on the arts of chivalry: had he lived longer, Scotland's political landscape and national outlook might have been very different to that which emerged under his successors, the Stewart kings. But David's was also a reign of internal tensions fuelled by his increasingly desperate efforts to determine the royal succession, overawe great magnates like his heir presumptive, Robert the Steward, and persuade his subjects of the need for closer relations with England after sixty years of war.
Download or read book The West Highland Railway written by John A. McGregor and published by Birlinn Ltd. This book was released on 2005-08-19 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The West Highland Railway, which opened to Fort William in 1894 and to Mallaig in 1901, follows a scenic route by Loch Lomond, Breadalbane and Lochaber to the west coast of Scotland and is one of the most famous railway lines in the world. This book describes the late-nineteenth-century 'railway mania' in the Highlands, addressing the politics of promotion and the disputes over state assistance for the Fort William–Mallaig line, rather than the heroics and the romance of construction and operation. It discusses the uneasy alliances and battles between the railway companies of Scotland, as well as those between Scottish lines and their English counterparts. It also reviews other schemes, more or less successful, and examines the expectations bound up with railway development, asking how far these had been achieved, or remained relevant, by 1914. 'This is a meticulously researched book . . . a unique and comprehensive history of the origins of the West Highland Railway . . . an essential addition to the library of anyone with an interest in Scottish railway history' - Ewan Crawford, University of Glasgow 'a fascinating and revealing study of rail development issues in the western Highlands between the 1840s and 1914' - Tom Hart, University of Glasgow
Download or read book Edward the Elder written by Michael John Key and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2019-03-15 with total page 519 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first biography of Alfred the Great's son, the forgotten king who was crucial to uniting England.
Download or read book The Men of the North written by Tim Clarkson and published by Birlinn. This book was released on 2012-09-28 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The North Britons are the least-known among the inhabitants of early medieval Scotland. Like the Picts and Vikings they played an important role in the shaping of Scottish history during the first millennium AD but their part is often neglected or ignored. This book aims to redress the balance by tracing the history of this native Celtic people through the troubled centuries from the departure of the Romans to the arrival of the Normans. The fortunes of Strathclyde, the last-surviving kingdom of the North Britons, are studied from its emergence at Dumbarton in the fifth century to its eventual demise in the eleventh. Other kingdoms, such as the Edinburgh-based realm of Gododdin and the mysterious Rheged, are examined alongside fragments of heroic poetry celebrating the valour of their warriors. Behind the recurrent themes of warfare and political rivalry runs a parallel thread dealing with the growth of Christianity and the influence of the Church in the affairs of kings. Important ecclesiastical figures such as Ninian of Whithorn and Kentigern of Glasgow are discussed, partly in the hope of unearthing their true identities among a tangled web of sources. The closing chapters of the book look at how and why the North Britons lost their distinct identity to join their old enemies the Picts as one of Scotland's vanished nations.
