Scottish Independence and the Idea of Britain

Dauvit Broun is Professor of Medieval Scottish History at the University of Glasgow. He is the author of 'Scottish Independence and the Idea of Britain: From the Picts to Alexander III' (EUP, 2007).

• Preface and Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Map; INTRODUCTION; Chapter 1: Writing about Scottish aspirations to independence before the age of Robert Bruce and William Wallace; I: THE IDEA OF BRITAIN; Chapter 2: Ancient kingdoms and island histories: the historiographical portrayal of ultimate secular authority from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries; Chapter 3: Alba as 'Britain' after 900 and the Pictish antecedents of the kingship of the Scots; II: INDEPENDENCE; Chapter 4: The Church and the first struggle for Scottish independence: from the Council of Windsor and the submission of Abernethy (1072) to Cum universi and the Quitclaim of Canterbury (1189); Chapter 5: Whose independence? Bishop Jocelin of Glasgow (1175-99) and the achievement of ecclesiastical freedom; III: SOVEREIGN KINGSHIP; Chapter 6: The inauguration of Alexander III (1249) and the portrayal of Scotland as a sovereign kingdom; Chapter 7: From client king to sovereign: royal charters and the status of Scottish kingship in the reigns of William I (1165-1214) and Alexander II (1214-49); IV: NATIONAL HISTORY; Chapter 8: The principle source used by John of Fordun for his Chronicle of the Scottish People; Chapter 9: The Scots as ancient and free: 'Proto-Fordun', 'Veremundus' and the creation of Scottish History; CONCLUSION; Chapter 10: The idea of Britain and the origins of Scottish independence.

This study provides a thoughtful, skilful and challenging view of the development of Scottish identity in the period preceding its great test.