Queen Margaret of ScotlandPaperback, 17 November 2006

There is no denying Queen Margaret's imaginative hold on generations of Scots. Born c.1046, she died in 1094 and was canonised in 1250. She stands on a line between the late Celtic/Norse and early medieval periods; although she was contemporaneous with the Vikings, by her time the Roman church was firmly established in all but the outer reaches of Europe, among which was Scotland. Margaret, a princess of impeccable lineage who was reared at the courts of Andrew II of Hungary and Edward the Confessor, became the representative of both the Roman communion and French/English culture when she married Malcolm III, King of Scots, around 1070. Eileen Dunlop re-examines the well-documented accounts of Queen Margaret and from a modern viewpoint looks at the contradictions in her life, her marriage, her death and the differing reactions she has aroused.