Scotland under the rule of Alexander III
The eight-year-old Alexander III had been king for only a few days when two factions began to struggle for control...
13/02/2015
Scotland
Hammering the Celts, 1272 – 1330
Henry’s heir was a swarthy giant of 6ft 2in, as Provencal (through his mother) as he was Plantagenet. Edward I...
02/04/2014
King Kenneth MacAlpin and the Alban kings
The centre of administration of the Pictish kingdom in the 9th century was Forteviot on the River Earn. Close by...
19/05/2013
Victorian Scotland
By the time Victoria became queen of Great Britain in 1837 the powers of the monarch were much more restricted...
24/02/2013
James II of Scotland and the fall of the Black Douglases
In 1449 James II of Scotland was nineteen and he began to assert himself and moved against his erstwhile Guardian,...
30/09/2012
Pictish society
The Romans classified some fifteen tribes in the north and loosely identified the territories they occupied. They also observed that...
09/09/2012
Scotland and the Irish
In the 1840s and 1850s the population was swelled by a great influx of Irish from all the provinces of...
13/03/2012
Clan tartans are not an ancient Scottish tradition
While plaids are certainly an ancient Scottish tradition,the idea of clans having their own tartan is surprisingly modern. In 1829...
13/12/2011
Love and life in the court of King James IV of Scotland
James IV‘s love life was no secret to his people. Marion Boyd had borne him a son in 1493. Margaret...
11/12/2011
19th Century sport in Scotland
Communal games involving men and older boys ranged up and down the streets of many towns and can still be...
24/05/2011