Five Euphemias

A dense yet fascinating maze, this narrative reveals how five women who were either born or married into the family of the earl of Ross over a 200-year period contributed to the foundation of the Scottish nation. t Packed with surprising facts and anecdotes, it is as much a descriptive history of the age as an exploration of the women's lives and the genealogy of their clans. Drawing on primary and secondary sources, Sutherland (In Search of the Picts) begins with the birth of the first Euphemia, whose father shaped the fate of his heirs when he assumed the earldom in 1214. The third Euphemia became Queen of Scots after her second husband, Robert III, assumed the throne in 1371.Offering a compelling account of how Druid pagan customs mixed naturally with newer Christian ones, Sutherland reveals how the demands of the agricultural economy governed so much of the religious, political and other cultural structures of the medieval period in Scotland. She also covers such diverse topics as aphrodisiacs (a brew of wild orchids), siblings opposed in battle, pets in the nunnery, and folk tales, such as one in which two nuts are thrown into a fire (a couple was to expect more harmony if the nuts burned together than if they rolled apart). Marital relationships were diverse: children born to an engaged couple bound the parents in a common-law marriage; couples could live together for a number of years and then divorce; or a man might live with a woman for a year before deciding to marry her; if he wished, he could send her back to her family with any children they might have had. Maps, illustrations. (Aug.)