Robert the Bruce, King of Scots

Very interesting historical read. Glad I bought it.

Excellent book. Well written and precise yet not hard to read. Informative and factual yet not written like a textbook. Worth the time reading it.

Ronald McNair Scott's "Robert the Bruce: King of Scots" is one of the best books I have read in a long while. The story of the life of Robert the Bruce is already well-known to me; it is the author's ability to weave the various story-lines together and keep me riveted on what was going to happen next that I found outstanding. This is a very well written biography that reads tremendously fast. If you're not familiar with the life of Robert the Bruce and were to read this book as a piece of fiction, you'd finish thinking that there's no possible way that the events that take place in Bruce's lifetime life actually took place. It becomes obvious why the Scottish highly revere this man.

Not knowing a great deal about Robert the Bruce, and a little put off by the cover (yes, I know), I decided to take a chance on this one. How glad I am that I did. Here’s a man, with his faithful followers, who lived life truly on the edge but whose bravery and commitment to Scotland were never in doubt. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about his many hair-raising escapades but also about the heart-warming and honorable way he conducted himself.

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Really enjoyed this book. Exciting from start to finish. Read like an adventure. Much respect to the Scottish people.

Very informative, quick read and an aspect of Anglo history I clearly didn't know enough about. My only issue is that all images in the book are basically extremely poor photo-copies of what I assume is from the '82 version of the book and they are borderline impossible to read or so dark you can't make out words, delineated armies, town names, etc. The map of the whole island in the beginning of the book is often used as a reference to the events detailed in the book and half the time I can't tell if the town name is represented.

The book was well sourced and researched, and was well laid out. It was a detailed and fairly interesting account of Robert’s life. It was a bit dry at times, and lacking a bit in narrative personality, but overall was a decent read.

Extremely well written and illuminating.

Really enjoyed this. Clear concise and well written

映画ブレイブハートで一躍有名になったスコットランドの国民的英雄ウィリアムウォレス。彼が処刑された後を継ぐようにスコットランド史の前面に出てきたのが有力貴族のロバートブルース。彼は貴族から王になり、イングランド王及びスコットランド内部の敵と戦い、スコットランドを独立に導いた、13〜14世紀を波乱万丈に生きた有名な王です。この本は、新書サイズの彼の伝記です。 歴史背景もさることながら、この本は主に戦（大きな戦だけでなくゲリラ戦や城の攻防など含む）が中心に書かれており、戦記物が好きな私はワクワクしながら読みました。 また、鬼神のごとく強い騎士としてイングランドから恐れられたロバート王の右腕であり親友 James Douglas、ダグラス伯に次ぐ武人とされ彼の友人でもありライバルでもあったThomas Randolph、ロバート王の2度目の妃 Elizabeth de Burgh、ロバート王の弟でアイルランド王として即位した Edward Bruceなど、特筆すべき主要人物に関しては、性格や容姿、周囲とのエピソードなども記述されており、決してロバート王だけに偏った伝記ではなく、小説的要素も含んでいて、大変興味深いです。 軍事的にも経済的にもイングランドに圧倒的劣位にあったスコットランドがとにもかくにも大きな戦（Battle of Bannockburn）でイングランドを破り、いったんは独立したというまでの背景には、そういった傑出した人物たちが同時期に生まれ、揃ったという偶然だか必然があるんだなーー、そんな時期に生まれて間近で歴史のうねりを感じてみたかった〜〜（命懸け間違いなし）！ などど、歴史のロマンを感じて浸ってしまいました。ロバートブルースの伝記は無数にあり、著者によって彼の人格／能力像の描写が違います。何冊か読みましたが、この著者の描くブルース像が、一番いろいろな意味でバランスが取れた王者で、格好いいと思います。

It is very difficult, I understand, to write a biography of a medieval person - however famous they maybe - therefore I think Mr Scott has really achived something very difficult in this book as it is really very detailed and highly readable. The problem so often found in works on people of the period - that of padding with genralisms - is not apparent in this work. Mr Scott has delved through the mire of history and myth and produced as clear an account of the Bruce as is possible and this work is highly recomended to others readers.

One of the best books I have read on Bruce. Takes you right through this period in history in a very easy to read fashion. I could hardly put it down once I started it. Highly recommend it to anyone interested in finding out more about this Scottish hero.