Even in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was conventional for humanist writers and their Enlightenment successors to regard the nobility which dominated early modern Scottish society and politics as violent, unlearned, and backward - at best conservatively bound to feudal codes of behaviour; at worst, brutal, corrupt and anarchic. It is a view that prevails still. Keith Brown takes issue with this.The author draws on extensive research in the rich archives of the Scottish noble houses to demonstrate that the conventional view of the Scottish nobility is wrong. He shows that the nobility were as steeped in contemporary European debates and movements as they were rooted in local society. Far from holding back Scotland's economic and cultural development, they embraced economic change, seized financial opportunities, led the way in the pursuit of Renaissance ideals through their own learning and in the education of their children, and were partners in religious reform. Professor Brown makes extensive comparisons with the noble societies elsewhere in Europe to reveal how the differences and above all the similarities between the lives of Scottish nobles and their peers abroad.Elegantly written and illustrated with a wealth of contemporary incident and anecdote, the book presents an intimate and vivid picture of noble life in Scotland. It challenges and will change perceptions of early modern Scotland. Noble Society in Scotland is the first of two related books on the subject. The second, on noble power and the relations between the nobility, state and monarchy, will be published by EUP in 2003.

Alexander the Great of Macedon was no stranger to controversy in his own time. Conqueror of the Greek states, of Egypt and of the Persian Empire as well as many of the principalities of the Indus Valley, he nevertheless became revered as well as vilified. Was he simply a destroyer of the ancient civilizations and religions of these regions, or was he a hero of the Persian dynasties and of Islam? The conflicting views that were taken of him in the Middle East in his own time and the centuries that followed are still reflected in the tensions that exist between east and west today. The story of Alexander became the subject of legend in the medieval west, but was perhaps even more pervasive in the east. The Alexander Romance was translated into Syriac in the sixth century and may have become current in Persia as early as the third century AD. From these beginnings it reached into the Persian national epic, the Shahnameh, into Jewish traditions, and into the Quran and subsequent Arab romance. The papers in this volume all have the aim of deepening our understanding of this complex development. If we can understand better why Alexander is such an important figure in both east and west, we shall be a little closer to understanding what unites two often antipathetic worlds. This volume collects the papers delivered at the conference of the same title held at the University of Exeter from July 26-29 2010. More than half the papers were by invited speakers and were designed to provide a systematic view of the subject; the remainder were selected for their ability to carry research forward in an integrated way.