Margaret Tudor, the elder sister of her more famous brother Henry VIII, is the single most important Tudor figure of this era that historians have consistently overlooked. Married at 13 to the charismatic James IV of Scotland, a man more than twice her age, she would learn the skills of statecraft that would enable her […]
Famine, clearance and the inspiration for a novel
It was over 50 years ago when Willie Orr found the seed of an idea for a novel about the Scottish potato famine and the Highland Clearances. He had a lot of living to do first, and the inspiration took root in a Scottish archive much later. Now the third of his series about Shiaba […]
Scotland’s Medieval Queens by Sharon Bennett Connolly
Scotland’s history is dramatic, violent and bloody. Being England’s northern neighbour has never been easy. And Scotland’s queens have had to deal with war, murder, imprisonment, political rivalries and open betrayal. They have loved and lost, raised kings and queens, ruled and died for Scotland. From St Margaret, who became one of the patron saints […]
Inspired by Scotland’s medieval queens
Sharon Bennett Connolly was initially inspired to write a book about Scotland’s medieval queens by a request to set the record straight. But the inspiration also came from the women themselves: peacemakers, diplomats, mothers, widows, prisoners, the many Margarets — saint, glamorous but unhappy wife, queen in her own right who died before taking the […]
10 Scotland Street by Leslie Hills
10 Scotland Street – the story of an Edinburgh home and its cast of booksellers, silk merchants, sailors, preachers, politicians, its stories of cholera and coincidence and its widespread connections over two centuries across the globe. 10 Scotland Street by Leslie Hills is published in paperback on 6 August, 2024. Read Leslie’s feature about how […]
Writing about Margaret Tudor
Linda Porter wasn’t intending to write Margaret Tudor’s biography. She came to it in a roundabout way, as she explains here. But Margaret’s story needed to be told. My new biography of Margaret Tudor seeks to challenge the negative views so often expressed about this overlooked 16th-century queen. How I came to write it is […]
The Thistle and The Rose by Linda Porter
Margaret Tudor, the elder sister of the more famous Henry VIII, is the single most important Tudor figure of this era that historians have consistently overlooked. Married at 13 to the charismatic James IV of Scotland, a man more than twice her age, she would learn the skills of statecraft that would enable her to […]
Mary, Queen of Scots: royalty and reputation
The reputation of Mary, Queen of Scots, has swung wildly over the centuries, from adulteress and murderer to romantic tragic royalty, from manipulator to puppet. Little survives in the historical record of what she had to say for herself. Anna Legat, author of The Queen’s Avenger, argues that she was a ‘smart’ politician, diplomat and […]