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 the fifteenth century; the relevance of the Christian components of chivalric culture; and the use of chivalry by the increasingly powerful Scottish crown. It also brings to light, and investigates further, a variety of tournaments held in Scotland by the Stewart kings. It will be of considerable significance to all those interested in the manifestations of chivalric culture at the close of the Middle Ages, in a kingdom beginning to make its mark amongst the prominent and fashionable European courts.

KATIE STEVENSON is a teaching fellow in the Department of Scottish History, University of St Andrews