'We have needed a one-volume history of Scotland for a long time, but it was worth waiting for Mrs Mitcheson's. Hers is a brilliant feat of compression, and into her 488 pages she has crammed more than anyone would have though possible, yet without any sense of strain. Nor does a single one of these pages, form the brilliant demographic description of Scotland with which she begins, to the stimulating discussion of Scottish nationalism with which she ends, give the impression of being taken from stock; on every subject and through every century she is fresh incisive, informative and enlightening. She has produced that rare thing, an original textbook...
The Burghs and Parliament in Scotland, c. 1550-1651
Existing studies of early modern Scotland tend to focus on the crown, the nobility and the church. Yet, from the sixteenth century, a unique national representative assembly of the towns, the Convention of Burghs, provides an insight into the activities of another key group in society. Meeting at least once a year, the Convention consisted of representatives from every parliamentary burgh, and was responsible for apportioning taxation, settling disputes between members, regulating weights and measures, negotiating with the crown on issues of concern to the merchant community.
One calm October day three men set out from Bermagui harbour in a fishing launch and disappeared into the rippleless Tasman Sea. Then the head of one of them, riddled with bullets, is brought up in a ship's trawl--it belonged to Ericson, formerly one of the Big Five at Scotland Yard. Why had he been shot and thrown overboard? Who had killed him? And where were the launchman and his mate? The bush had never defeated Bony but there were no clues in the sepulchre of the sea.
In Search of Scotland is the companion book to the lively and challenging BBC Scotland television series. Edited by Gordon Menzies, the Producer of the television series, this book tells the story of ten thousand years of Scotland's history. History is where we come from, history is who we are. From the Stone Age to the present, the book charts the impact of Celts, Picts, Romans, Irish, Vikings and English, of battles, wars and empire. The great and the good figure prominently, of course, but the story of Scotland is also about ordinary people, who lived and loved, worked and died, mostly leaving no record at all.
Mons Graupius AD 83 - Rome's Battle at the Edge of the World
In AD 77, Roman forces under Agricola marched into the northern reaches of Britain in an attempt to pacify the Caledonian tribesman. For seven years, the Romans marched and battled across what is now Scotland. Finally, in AD 83, they fought the final battle at Mons Graupius where 10,000 Caledonians were slaughtered from only 360 Roman dead. It proved the high-water mark of Roman power in Britain. Following unrest elsewhere in the empire, the north of Scotland was abandoned and Rome's forces began their long retreat. Never again would Roman arms stand on the edge of the known world.
