History
This fascinating episode takes the listener on a journey - beginning with a departure from Edinburgh Castle, a Forth crossing on a dark and stormy night, to Inverkeithing's safe harbour - where, had Alexander III taken the sage advice of his advisor, another Alexander - perhaps the whole sequence of events in the first and second phases of the Scottish Wars of Independence might have played out completely differently. Dr Tom Turpie explains brilliantly how Medieval Inverkeithing's strategic position, status and relationship with Royalty, meant that it was an important staging post, and what the turbulent period's events and charged political context meant for the town, for the Baron of Inverkeithing, and a particularly dark legal case. In 2020, the year of its 700th anniversary, Tom also reveals Inverkeithing's important connection with the Declaration of Arbroath. Listeners interested in following up their keenly whetted intellectual appetites, will find the online exhibition of the Declaration of Arbroath here: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/Declaration, Very reliable and cleanly presented information from the Scottish History Society on the first and second Scottish Wars of Independence here https://scottishhistorysociety.com/the-wars-of-independence/ Tom also recommends the Scottish medieval historian authors Geoffrey W S Barrow, Michael Penman, and Michael Brown.