Illustrated guide to Scottish medieval heraldry, the first to link heraldry to major events in Scottish history and to the families that took part in them. Winner of the Saltire Society's 2007 History Book Award Scottish heraldry can be said to begin in the mid-twelfth century, when material of Scottish interest first appears in a number of English and Continental rolls-of-arms, and as the years passed it developed an increasing complexity and sophistication, establishing itself as a subject in its own right in the seventeenth century with the appearance of the Lyon register. This volume is the first to link heraldry to major events in Scottish history and to the families that took part in them. It uses a wide range of sources to chart its growth, some of which have been rarely explored previously, thus bringing much new material into the corpus of Scottish heraldry. It also covers the major families and clans - Stewarts, Douglas, Murrays, Hamiltons, Gordons and MacDonalds - and examines a host of other issues, both technical and historical. Throughout it is richly illustrated with some two hundred chart pedigrees and fully-coloured coats-of-arms.

Sheriffs were among the most important local office-holders in early modern England. They were generalist officers of the king responsible for executing legal process, holding local courts, empanelling juries, making arrests, executing criminals, collecting royal revenue, holding parliamentary elections, and many other vital duties. Although sheriffs have a cameo role in virtually every book about early modern England, the precise nature of their work has remained something of a mystery. The Tudor Sheriff offers the first comprehensive analysis of the shrieval system between 1485 and 1603. It demonstrates that this system was not abandoned to decay in the Tudor period, but was effectively reformed to ensure its continued relevance. Jonathan McGovern shows that sheriffs were not in competition with other branches of local government, such as the Lords Lieutenant and justices of the peace, but rather cooperated effectively with them. Since the office of sheriff was closely related to every other branch of government, a study of the sheriff is also a study of English government at work.