Few aspects of Scottish history inspire as fervent an interest as the wars with England. The exploits of not one, but two, national heroes – William Wallace and Robert Bruce – have excited the attention of a host of novelists, filmmakers, artists and songwriters, as well as historians. But few have ventured to examine it in depth from an English perspective. Yet there could have been no Wallace or Bruce, no Stirling Bridge or Bannockburn, without the English kings’ efforts to subjugate their northern neighbour.

This book explores how Edward I attempted to bring the Scottish kingdom under his control during the last years of the thirteenth and early years of the fourteenth centuries. Despite England’s overwhelming military might, victory was by no means inevitable, and Scotland’s leaders proved able to create a successful front to repel a far more powerful enemy. Packed with detail, description and analysis, Under the Hammer paints a vivid picture of a key period in the history of both nations.

Fiona Watson is a medieval historian and writer specialising in medieval warfare in particular, and Scottish History more generally. Among her many publications are Macbeth: A True Story (2010), A History of Scotland’s Landscapes (2018), Traitor, Outlaw, King. Part One. The Making of Robert Bruce, (2018) and Scotland’s History (2020). A former senior lecturer in History at the University of Stirling and presenter of the 2001 TV series, In Search of Scotland, she is now venturing into historical fiction to make the most of the limited evidence for medieval Scotland.