GRAHAM TURNER

Scottish castles and Tower Houses evolved as fortified dwellings that were erected in an environment of weak royal authority and feuding between rival clans. This book examines these castles and Tower Houses, focusing on their distinctive style that flourished in Scotland in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The full story surrounding the battle that represented the climax of the career of King Robert the Bruce, and has since remained the most famous battle in Scottish history - the Battle of Bannockburn.

The author here looks at the fragmentation of the Abbasid Caliphate based in Iraq, and the Fatimids, Buwayhids, Ghaznawids and other principalities that emerged from the wrecked Abbasid state. More advanced than any other medieval military power, the Caliphal armies were a potent force.