Norman Macdougall was een Schotse historicus die bekend staat om zijn diepgaande analyses van de Schotse kroonpolitiek. Zijn werk ontleedt zorgvuldig de levens van Schotse koningen en het ingewikkelde web van politieke manoeuvres die de geschiedenis van het land hebben gevormd. Macdougall's onderzoek biedt inzichtelijke verkenningen van de complexe machts- en invloedsdynamiek tijdens cruciale perioden van de Schotse geschiedenis.
James III is the most enigmatic of the Stewart kings of Scotland. This study explains why King James was challenged by a huge rebellion in 1482, which he narrowly survived, and why he succumbed to a further rising in 1488, which placed his eldest son on the throne as James IV.
James IV is the best-known of all the late medieval Scottish rulers. This study examines almost all aspects of James IV's sovereignty, explains his successful kingship, and assesses the reasons for the disastrous end to the reign when the king and a large population of the Scottish nobility were eliminated in a single afternoon in 1513 at Flodden.