The story of the House of Stewart is one coloured by tragedy, violence and unfulfilled promise. Heir to the Bruce kings, the devious and cynical Robert Stewart inherited a land scarred by decades of war and internal division. Using all his political skills, he succeeded in stamping the Stewart mark on his realm, enmeshing the kingdom with his growing family network. But, like some medieval Godfather, his family turned against him, wresting power from his hands and starting a cycle of vendetta that ended only with the assassination of his grandson, James I.
Only the first two Stewart kings died as old men in their beds, their descendants meeting violent ends at the hands of assassins, in battle, or beneath the executioner's axe, or dying, worn out and embittered before their prime, until James VI twisted and wove his way through crisis and conspiracy to ultimate triumph.
Yet in their brief lives, the Stewart kings succeeded in transforming the face of Scotland, breaking the might of families such as the Black Douglases and MacDonalds to assert the power of the crown, carving a place for their kingdom in the shifting world of European diplomacy, and presiding over a Golden Age of Scottish cultural life.
Contents:
The Editor and Contributors
Genealogy
Introduction
1. Robert II Stewart
2. Robert III
3. James I
4. James II
5. James III
6. James IV
7. James V
8. Mary
9. James VI
Further Reading
List of Illustrations
Index
