Flowers of Chivalry

Three years after the death of Robert the Bruce, the independence he won for Scotland is again in peril. His five-year-old son David II has inherited the crown, but Edward III of England supports Edward Balliol as a rival king and sends armies north to restore English dominance. With the veterans of the Bruce’s struggle ageing or dead, resistance depends upon a new generation of commanders willing to fight a mobile and often desperate war.

Foremost among them are William Douglas, Lord of Liddesdale, celebrated as the Flower of Chivalry, and Alexander Ramsay of Dalhousie. Their daring raids, endurance and military skill help preserve the child-king’s cause, and friendship is forged through years of shared danger. Yet honour in a divided kingdom is inseparable from ambition. Competition for command, royal favour and the custody of Roxburgh Castle turns comradeship into a feud, driving two of Scotland’s finest warriors towards an act of vengeance as tragic as any defeat inflicted by their English enemies.