9The volume begins with the shaky foundation of the Stewart dynasty during the reign of Robert II (1371-1390) and traces its development to the demise at the Battle of Sauchieburn of James III (1460-1488) together with his exalted vision of Stewart kingship. The author shows how and why the period is dominated by the growth of royal power and the concomitant eclipse of the regional aristocratic supremacies that had dominated fourteenth-century Scotland. His vivid accounts of the changing religious, economic, social and cultural life of the fifteenth century kingdom are woven into and around the central political narrative.