These essays constitute the first radical reassessment since the nineteenth century of the role of architecture as an expression of lordship and status among Scottish secular and ecclesiastical elites in the period c.1124–c.1650. These studies of the architectural patronage of particular families or groups explore how the nobility operated socially and economically, as well as politically, in the organisation and structure of lordship throughout the medieval and renaissance periods. The contributors draw on the traditions and strengths of Scottish genealogical, archaeological and art-historical enquiry to illustrate key themes, which include: family or kindred styles in building on a local, regional or national level; builders’ or patrons’ motives; the scale and use of the buildings; and ascertainable changes in function, purpose and attitude.

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Contributors
• List of Illustrations
• List of Abbreviations
• Foreword
• 1. Prelatical Builders: A Preliminary Study, c.1124–c.1500
• 2. Adapting Tradition?: The Earldom of Strathearn, 1114–1296
• 3. The Brus Lordship of Annandale, 1124–1296
• 4. The Comyns to 1300
• 5. The Heirs of Somerled
• 6. Domestic Architecture in the Lordship of the Isles
• 7. ‘Pillars of the Community’: Clan Campbell and Architectural Patronage in the Fifteenth Century
• 8. The Black Douglases, 1369–1455
• 9. The Sinclairs in the Late Middle Ages
• 10. The Maxwells of Caerlaverock
• 11. The Homes and the East March
• 12. The Gordons and the North-East, 1452–1640
• 13. The Mackenzies
• 14. Court and Courtier Architecture, 1424–1660
• Index of Persons and Places