For decades, the study of Scotland in the fifteenth century has focused on the complex relationships between crown and magnates. However, the importance of the chivalric ideal to the Scottish knightly class, and the use of chivalry as a political tool by the Stewart kings, has been overlooked by scholars. This book aims to fill this gap. It considers how chivalry was interpreted in fifteenth-century Scotland and how it compared with European ideas of chivalry; the responsibilities of knighthood in this period and the impact that this had on Scottish political life; the chivalric literature of...

One of the most difficult and complex ethical and cultural codes to define, chivalry has proved a flexible, ever-changing phenomenon, constantly adapted in the hands of medieval knights, Renaissance princes, early modern antiquarians, Enlightenment scholars, modern civic authorities, authors, historians and re-enactors. This book explores the rich variations in how the Middle Ages were conceptualised and historicised to illuminate the plurality of uses of the past. Using chivalry as a lens through which to examine concepts and uses of the medieval, it provides a critical assessment of the...

St Andrews was of tremendous significance in medieval Scotland. Its importance remains readily apparent in the buildings which cluster the rocky promontory jutting out into the North Sea: the towers and walls of cathedral, castle and university provide reminders of the status and wealth of the city in the Middle Ages. As a centre of earthly and spiritual government, as the place of veneration for Scotland's patron saint and as an ancient seat of learning, St Andrews was the ecclesiastical capital of Scotland. This volume provides the first full study of this special and multi-faceted centre...