Our friend in the north: the origins, evolution and appeal of the cult of St Duthac of Tain in later Middle Ages

St Duthac of Tain was one of the most popular Scottish saints of the later middle ages. From the late fourteenth century until the reformation devotion to Duthac outstripped that of Andrew, Columba, Margaret and Mungo, and Duthac's shrine in Easter Ross became a regular haunt of James IV (1488-1513) and James V (1513-42). Hitherto historians have tacitly accepted the view of David McRoberts that Duthac was one of several local saints whose emergence and popularity in the fifteenth century was part of a wider self-consciously nationalist trend in Scottish religious practice. This study looks beyond the paradigm of nationalism to trace and explain the popularity of St Duthac from the shadowy origins of the cult to its heyday in the early sixteenth century

The Assizes of David I, king of Scots, 1124–53

David I, king of Scots (1124-53), has long wielded a posthumous reputation as one of Scotland's most important lawmakers. Yet there has been little scholarly attention paid to the 'assizes' circulating under his name; indeed, the identification of a coherent and stable text of David's laws has long been thought a false hope. This article argues that this view is mistaken: the original structure and content of the so-called 'Assizes of David' can be established. However, that text contains very little legislative material attributable to David himself but instead was an exercise to create legal antiquity for Robert I (1306-29) at a time when that most insecure of kings was conducting a programme of written legitimisation of his kingship. The 'Assizes of David I' were, more properly, an attempt to convey Robert's own legislative aims through association with his long-dead but illustrious predecessor, David I. Finally, understanding the correct form of the 'Assizes of David' can unlock the nature of some of the other 'auld law' compilations and possibly even provide an entry into that most intractable of legal treatises, Regiam Majestatem.</p