The Early Stewart Kings

The Stewart Dynasty in Scotland series aims to bring the rich political heritage of late medieval and early modern Scotland before as wide a reading public as possible, with specialist authors writing for the general reader as well as the student or academic. This volume is number one in the series and is also the first scholarly biography of the two kings who established medieval Scotland's most famous and durable royal dynasty. Robert II, long regarded as a weak and ineffective king, pursued a determined political and propaganda campaign which largely overcame initial political opposition. Robert III was forced to engage in a long-term struggle with his brother Albany for control of the kingdom. Firmly based on contemporary documentary sources, Stephen Boardman's study examines the ways in which the unjustly poor reputations of both kings grew from later embellishments to contemporary political propaganda.

Stephen Boardman is Lecturer in Scottish History at the University of Edinburgh. His first book, The Early Stewart Kings: Robert II and Robert III, won the Agnes Mure Mackenzie prize. A lively writer as well as an intrepid researcher, he is widely regarded as one of the finest Scottish historians of his generation. He lives in Ladybank, Fife.