For my sins, I had been slightly involved in the rumpus about the Stone that came back to Scotland so dramatically and in unorthodox fashion. I did not start, as it were, quite from scratch. Columba's altar, holy relic of our ancestors? Is the lump of red sandstone at present so jealously guarded in Westminster Abbey by electric eyes, chains and burglar alarmsР“Р€is that the Stone of Destiny at all? Or just a 700-year-old phony, a piece of local Scone scenery that Edward the Hammer of the Scots took south with him when he could not lay hands on the real stone in 1296Р“Р€ and which Ian Hamilton and his student friends abstracted in 1950, believing that it would be more fittingly kept in Scotland Р“Р€ and thereby set Scotland Yard, Scotland and much of England, by the ears? And if so, where is the other, the original, the ancient Liath Fail, talisman of Scotland's kings, pillow of Jacob, St. But which Stone of Destiny? There is the rub. The Stone of Destiny has been news for 700 yearsР“Р€ and may well be so for as long again. In my novel, The Stone, I did not so much work on research as research rather worked for me. Since then, of course, the so-called Stone of Scone has been returned from Westminster to Edinburgh Castle but that doesnР’Сt answer the question, does it? This article is an example of its companions that you will find in SCOTTISH BOOKS including NIGEL TRANTER NEWS. This article first appeared in The Scots Magazine for August 1960.

Here is the background for that work and some of the mystery that surrounds the real Stone of Destiny. Tranter believes that his novel The Stone has caused more public interest than any other. All rights reserved.Р”Р„n Liath Fail - But Which Stone is that of Destiny? If Scottish history appeals to you at all, do yourself a favor and find a copy of Nigel Tranter's MacBeth - even if you have to go to Scotland to get it.Nigel Tranter Article: Which Stone The following article is Copyright by the Estate of Nigel Tranter. One can't help but wonder what might be different if young, illegitimate heir Malcolm or perhaps the treacherous MacDuff had fallen in battle, or if the ambitious Northumbrian Earl Siward had fixated on the weakly held kingdom to his south and less on the lands of his northern neighbors. The white-knuckle battle scenes which dominate the final portion of the novel are thrilling, frustrating and ultimately tragic. Readers also catch a glimpse of Scotland's last great age as a Celtic nation after MacBeth's fall, English rules and customs began to creep into the country, even as the Roman church displaced its more liberal Celtic counterpart. But this is no tedious history tome Tranter's storytelling is enjoyable throughout. The novel incorporates a wealth of historical detail, including the varied mix of Christian and pagan, Scottish and Norse traditions making up MacBeth's Yule festivities, as well as a nearly comical visit by MacBeth and Thorfinn to Pope Leo in Rome. In some ways, Tranter's MacBeth has more in common with Shakespeare's Hamlet - at times indecisive and slow to take action, but determined once he gets moving. There are no witches confronting and confounding Tranter's MacBeth, although the writer does give a nod to Shakespeare's vision in a dream. We also see the nature of King Malcolm II, the Destroyer, MacBeth's despotic grandfather, and Duncan I, his successor to the throne (who was killed by MacBeth, not with a dagger in the night, but in a riveting, page-turning battle sequence). We meet Gruouch nic Bodhe (known only as Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare's play), his strong-willed and loving wife, and Thorfinn Sigurdson, Earl of Orkney and MacBeth's half-brother, a gruff but hearty and loyal Viking ally. In it, we meet a determined but unambitious man whose love for Scotland outweighs his own desire for a quiet life. Scottish novelist Nigel Tranter, who is unmatched in his efforts to present his country's history in novel form, gives the real MacBeth his due in MacBeth the King, an exciting story of Scotland's turbulent past. In reality, MacBeth was a Scottish hero, and the king he killed, Duncan, was inept and despised by his people. As a historian, however, he was a bit of a doofus.Р”Р„ case in point is his character assassination of MacBeth, an 11th-century Scottish king who was portrayed by Shakespeare - for political reasons - as a murderous, power-hungry tyrant. As a playwright, Shakespeare knows no equal.

Nigel tranter