Nigel Tranter 
Crusader 

Alexander III of Scotland was just seven years old when he inherited thethrone. South of the border, England’s King Henry III saw this as hischance 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 – oneman stood by the young monarch. Whether it was shooting wild geese, helping him escape from the prison-like confines of Edinburgh Castle orteaching him to stand up both to his ever-threatening Englishfather-in-law and the unending feuds of his own countrymen, David de Lindsay of Luffness in East Lothian was Alexander’s one true andconstant friend.But David’s only wish was to be a crusader, a wish he was finally tofulfil when the boy became a man.The turbulent 13th century story of the child king Alexander III of Scotland and David de Lindsay of Luffness, his one true supporter, in anage of crusades and wars.