Fergus Cannan
Scottish Arms and Armour
Oxford: Shire Publications, 2009. 120 pp. £12.99/$19.95. ISBN 978-0747806981.
The Scottish claymore is perhaps one of the most recognizable weapons in the world of medieval warfare. Yet most people are unaware of the extensive and diverse corpus of Scottish arms and armor of which the claymore is simply one example. Fergus Cannan, in an ambitious attempt to synthesize into a single volume the history and variety of Scottish arms and armor, has produced a beautifully illustrated, well organized and informative book. Though perhaps leaning significantly more towards the "coffee table" end of the spectrum than the true scholarly, Cannan is successful in creating a well presented and lively survey of the Scottish tools for war.
Cannan's book is divided into nine chapters that trace the evolution and development of Scottish weapons and armor from the earliest bronze age findings to the arms used for traditional and ceremonial use today. While a fairly short book of the scope attempted by Cannan has necessarily limited the depth in which any one period could be discussed, there is still the endeavor to include as many specific details as possible. For example, Cannan places his description of fourteenth-century Scottish helms into a larger picture by discussing Robert Bruce's mandate of 1318 demanding all Scots worth at least £10 to own a basinet, which Cannan also points out is illustrated in the 1316 Carlisle Charter. (pp. 20-1) There are times, however, when the chronology gets compressed, and details appropriate to one time are inaccurately applied to another. Such is the case with Cannan's discussion of the "yellow war-coats" in the chapter on the Middle Ages, as his source material and examples date to the sixteenth or even late seventeenth centuries—far from a medieval context indeed. (27) Unfortunately, at times this also leads to or even encourages generalizations. Within each chapter, Cannan spends time explaining the particulars of several distinct arms and armor, as well as providing contextual discussions of society, political and military events, the topographical realities of Scotland, developments in technology, and the Scottish participation in increasingly global affairs. Hence, Cannan's book is not simply a catalogue of military artifacts, but an introduction to those artifacts' role and place in the procession of Scottish history, more or less laid out in a chronological manner.
Perhaps the best and most memorable quality of Cannan's work is the abundance of high quality images, including a large number of full color images. Ranging from photographs of arms and armor preserved in museums and private collections, to paintings and photographs of reenactors exhibiting the use of weapons, to maps and images of archaeological items such as coins and sculpture that display arms and armor, the visual component of the book is truly striking. Every page has at least one image or facing-page image, and there are several full-page illustrations as well. Furthermore, Cannan has carefully ensured that each image is captioned with a description, including, where possible, an acknowledgement or citation. However, lest one get the impression that the author intended for the images alone to carry and determine the worth of the book, it must be pointed out that the majority of the images are discussed in the text, so that they serve as an illustration to the narrative rather than a superimposition of unrelated images.
That the scholarly community is not the target audience of this book is evident in the near total lack of notes or citations. Indeed, there are places where one is left wondering what source the author used when presenting tantalizing details. A Scottish poem concerning bow-making, for example, of which one stanza has been reproduced in Cannan's chapter on Gaelic blacksmithing, is not cited at all, nor is there any way to pinpoint the source in what is clearly a partial bibliography. (42) While it is not a standard bibliography per se, Cannan did include a sizeable list of suggested further reading, helpfully organized according to the book chapters' themes; for a book geared towards a non-scholarly audience, the list is fairly extensive and includes both primary and secondary works.
Cannan's deep connection to his subject is obvious. Not only does he himself have a genealogical link to the subject, as a descendent of Scottish lords traced back well before the Jacobite rebellions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but also a passion for the topic of arms and armor that is evident in his professional work in museums such as the Victoria and Albert in London. This museum association has found its way into the conclusion of Cannan's book, where a section entitled "Places to Visit" provides suggestions for museums and other collections to visit in order to view Scottish arms and armor.
Cannan's book, while not the final word on any, especially scholarly, discussion of weapons and armor, is certainly a lovely complement to other more definitive works, and more or less succeeds in its goal of presenting the a complete survey of those particular to Scotland.
