Crusader

Alexander III of Scotland was just seven years old when he inherited the throne. South of the border, England's King Henry III saw this as his chance to assert his paramountcy over the kingdom. At the age of ten, the boy was married to Henry's daughter.

But, through the hazards of power politics and dynastic marriage - as well as the more natural hazards of lively adolescence - one man stood by the young monarch. Whether it was shooting wild geese, helping him escape from the prison-like confines of Edinburgh Castle or teaching him to stand up both to his ever-threatening English father-in-law and the unending feuds of his own countrymen, David de Lindsay of Luffness in East Lotham was Alexander's one true and constant friend.

The rolling Lothian and Border country and its compelling history are both brought marvellously to life in this magnificent account of a young boy and his destiny.