Winner of the Saltire Society's 2007 History Book Award

Scottish heraldry can be said to begin in the mid-twelfth century, when material of Scottish interest first appears in a number of English and Continental rolls-of-arms, and as the years passed it developed an increasing complexity and sophistication, establishing itself as a subject in its own right in the seventeenth century with the appearance of the Lyon register. This volume is the first to link heraldry to major events in Scottish history and to the families that took part in them. It uses a wide range of sources to chart its growth, some of which have been rarely explored previously, thus bringing much new material into the corpus of Scottish heraldry. It also covers the major families and clans - Stewarts, Douglas, Murrays, Hamiltons, Gordons and MacDonalds - and examines a host of other issues, both technical and historical. Throughout it is richly illustrated with some two hundred chart pedigrees and fully-coloured coats-of-arms.