June 23-24th marks the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, in which Robert the Bruce's army routed the English.
Here are ten books to read ahead of the commemoration.
1. The Brus, by John Barbour
The Scots bard didn't let facts get in the way of a good and patriotic story, especially since events took place 60 years before he put pen to paper.
2. Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland, GWS Barrow (Edinburgh University Press, £19.99)
The definitive scholarly work. First written in 1965, it remains evergreen.
3. Robert the Bruce King of the Scots, by James Robertson, illustrated by Jill Calder (Birlinn, £12.99)
A gloriously illustrated picture-book version, with expertly concise text by one of Scotland's finest novelists.
4. Bannockburn, Alistair Moffat (Birlinn, £12.99)
A readable and colourful account of the days leading up to what many predicted would be an easy English victory.
5. Robert the Bruce: King of the Scots, Michael Penman (Yale University Press, £25)
Brand-new history, by a medievalist at Stirling University. Penman draws a fascinating picture of Bruce's life and the politics that led from his years in the wilderness to his time post-Bannockburn, when he had to fight almost as hard to keep his supporters on-side, the English from the door, and fuse a viable kingdom.
6. Bannockburn, Angus Konstam (Aurum Press, £18.99)
Konstam has a lively style, and a combative personality, and both are well suited to his subject. He deals briskly with the facts, and the many confusions, around the battle itself.
7. Bannockburn: The Triumph of Robert the Bruce, David Cornell (Yale University Press, £14.99)
Described by one reviewer as "an excellent analysis of Edward II's political ineptitude and Robert the Bruce's strategic skills".
8. Kingdom, Robyn Young (Hodder & Stoughton, £16.99)
Fiction that makes the term swashbuckling sound feeble, with a cast of characters only slightly smaller than the armies who clashed.
9. Bannockburns: Scottish Independence and the Literary Imagination 1314-2014, Robert Crawford (Edinburgh University Press, £19.99)
Crawford looks at the effect of the battle and the idea of independence, or loss thereof, on generations of writers and poets.
10. Robert Baston, Bannockburn
Baston was paid to accompany the English army so that he could record their spectacular victory. Captured by the Scots, he was still obliged to write his war poem. Edwin Morgan did a great translation, in The Battle of Bannockburn (2004).
See Saturday's Herald and the Sunday Herald Magazine for full books coverage every week.
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