William the Lion, 1143 - 1214: Kingship and Culture

by D.D.R. Owen

This biography reviews the known facts of the life of William the Lion, Scotland's longest reigning king, and presents them within the broad context of the country's early history and culture. While much of the story centres on the often brittle relationship with the English Plantagenets, Scotland emerges as a European power, respected not least for its now largely forgotten cultural flowering. This is demonstrated in the later chapters by an examination of a body of hiterto undervalued texts, notably a skit on the Grail legend. Set in Scotland, the romance was probably composed by a St Andrews' bishop for the court circle, and can claim to be the country's earliest surviving vernacular work. This interdisciplinary approach, by juxtaposing established facts with literary interpretations, offers historians and the general reader with a new and more rounded view of both the domestic conditions and the reputation abroad of William the Lion's Scotland. D.D.R. Owen is the author of "Eleanor of Queen and Legend".

Genres: History

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: my copy is the paperback edition.
This book combines an adequate life of William the Lion with
literary analysis of works produced in approximately his time, notably the romance of Fergus of Galloway. The life does provide basic facts about the life of a major Scottish medieval king, based chiefly on chronicles annd charters (sources are limited); some of it is rather old-fashioned,
taking feudalism and courtly love more seriously than many recent scholars do. The history also tends to be a bit biased by the author's literary interests --he spends a lot of time pushing a doubtful theory that the romance of Fergus was written by a Bishop William who was one of King William's officials, for example. The literary analysis of the romance of Fergus is chiefly devoted to considering whether it displays real knowledge of Scottish geography and
concluding that it does. Judging by the writer's summary (I've not read the romance) its plot is very conventional, and derived from the stories of Percival and Gareth (ignorant young peasant wins knighthood and eventually a lady), and the hero bears no great resemblence to the real Fergus of Galloway, for whom see Outlaws of Medieval Scotland. Overall, I felt that Owen, who is primarily a literary scholar, might have done better to write a book explicitly focused on the historical background of the romance rather than a purported life of King William, though I musdt admit I was more interested in King William's
executon by fire.