A new in paperback edition commemorating the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, 1314
This classic edition of the definitive history of Robert Bruce's life and career, during Scotland's tumultuous coming of age in the Wars of Independence, is one of the twentieth century's bona-fide classics in historical writing.
First published in 1965, ROBERT BRUCE was quickly recognised as an indispensable guide to understanding Scotland's complex game of thrones and its medieval society. The central theme of this seminal work remains the interplay and tension between Bruce himself and the very concept of a Scottish nation, of which Bruce aspired to be king. The chief shift in emphasis in this history was to demonstrate the continuity and unity of purpose which linked the stake-holders of a nascent Scottish realm throughout the period from 1290 to 1329.
In this bloody period of political intrigue, battlefield heroism and variable loyalties, a singularly Scottish identity was born in campaigns against English claims, culminating in the Battle of Bannockburn in June 1314, the fulcrum around which Bruce built a nation and a Scottish peace.
About the Author: G. W. S. Barrow was Sir William Fraser Professor of Scottish History and Palaeography, University of Edinburgh, 1979-92. His books include Feudal Britain (London, 1956); Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland (4th edition, Edinburgh, 2005); The Anglo-Norman Era in Scottish History (Oxford, 1980 - his Ford lectures); Scotland and its Neighbours in the Middle Ages (London, 1992); and The Kingdom of the Scots (2nd edition, Edinburgh, 2003).
Michael Brown is Reader in Scottish History at the University of St Andrews. He has written books on James I, the Black Douglases and volume four in the New Edinburgh History of Scotland, 'The Wars of Scotland, 1214-1371'.
