Lymond Chronicles

The Lymond Chronicles is a series of six novels, written by Dorothy Dunnett, which were first published between 1961 and 1975. The series is set in mid-sixteenth century Europe and the Mediterranean and tells the story of a young Scottish nobleman, Francis Crawford of Lymond, from 1547 through 1558.

Overview

Francis Crawford of Lymond

Over the course of the six volumes, readers follow the life and career of the charismatic Francis Crawford of Lymond, the younger son of the Crawfords of Culter, members of the landed aristocracy of the Scottish Lowlands. Brought up according to the Renaissance ideal of an educated autodidact, he is a polyglot, knowledgeable in literature, philosophy, mathematics and the sciences, a practitioner of all the martial arts, a spell-binding musician, a talented thespian, and a master strategist with a genius for imaginative tactics.

An intensely private man but with a very public persona, he is a non-conformist who is suspicious of causes, political or religious. He is driven by his demanding personal code of behaviour and responsibility regardless of whether he meets society's expectations or rules. Though a cosmopolitan military leader, diplomat or spy, he has an abiding feeling for his home country of Scotland. Despite his reluctance to relinquish his cherished independence and align permanently with any nation's ruler, Lymond's professional reputation increasingly makes him a sought-after ally, or a foe to be avoided, by many of the...
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