Death and the Royal Succession in Scotland. c.1214-c.1543: Ritual, Ceremony and Power

To date, royal ceremony in Scotland has received very haphazard treatment, with few attempts to explore how these crucial moments for the representation of royal authority developed through the medieval and into the early modern period. This monograph provides a long durée analysis of the ceremonial cycle of death and the royal succession associated with Scottish kingship from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, including the final century of the Canmore dynasty, the crisis of the Bruce-Balliol conflict, and the emergence and consolidation of the Stewart family up to the funeral of last monarch buried in Scotland, James V, in 1543. Using a broad range of primary source materials, many of them previously untapped, including financial records and material culture, it addresses key questions about kingship and power, the function of ceremony in legitimising royal authority, its significance in relation to the practical exercising of power, and evidence for Scottish similarities and distinctiveness within wider European contexts. In short, this monograph illuminates how the ceremonial dimension of death and the succession reflected both Scottish royal identity and the kingdom’s integration within a broader European culture of ceremony, while enhancing our understanding of the complexities of the transfer and consolidation of power between generations and dynasties.