Love Scotland podcast – Season 8

Season 8

Episode 3 – The afterlife of Mary, Queen of Scots

Arguably the most famous monarch in Scottish history, Mary, Queen of Scots remains a figure of global intrigue more than 400 years after her death. One question, then: why?

In a previous episode of Love Scotland (Season 4, Episode 4), Jackie explored the life and times of Mary. Today, she’s on a mission to find out why Mary’s story and legacy have been pored over in such detail for centuries.

Joining Jackie in the studio is Professor Steven Reid of the University of Glasgow, who is also the author of The Afterlife of Mary, Queen of Scots. Together, they unpick the posthumous interest in Mary, the many different perceptions of her legacy, and how Mary’s death has been used throughout history to further different groups’ objectives.

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Episode 2 – Robert the Bruce: battles of a King

In the second part of a two-episode biography of Robert the Bruce’s life, Jackie returns to the studio with Professor Dauvit Broun of the University of Glasgow.

Last week, we looked at the early life of Robert and how his canny abilities, not to mention his tendency to switch allegiance at opportune moments, helped him to secure power. But what came next?

Picking up their conversation in 1306, when Scotland has been conquered by Edward I of England and Robert faces a jostle for power with the most powerful family in Scotland, Jackie and Dauvit will look at all that happened in Robert’s reign.

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Episode 1 – Robert the Bruce: fact and fiction

Welcome to a new series of Love Scotland. In this week’s episode, Jackie is joined by Professor Dauvit Broun of the University of Glasgow to discuss the life of Robert the Bruce.

Robert, King of Scots from 1306–29, had a fascinating life of changing allegiances, shifting power and military victories. How much of our understanding of this Scottish ruler is based in fact? What motivated him to switch sides, on several occasions, in the wars of the 13th and 14th centuries? And why has his legacy had such a lasting effect on the nation’s history?

Next week, Jackie and Dauvit continue their conversation, charting the events that followed Bannockburn.