Any narrative of the reigns of the medieval Stewart monarchs demonstrates the fundamental importance of the relationship between the king and his leading nobles. In a country like Scotland, where central institutions were relatively undeveloped, the co-operation of the magnates was essential for the smooth governance of the realm. Especially in areas which were remote from the heartland of the Scottish kingdom, those who could command strong local support and successfully impose their authority over their tenants and dependants could act as effective agents of the crown, but also had the capacity to defy the king with a degree of impunity, or even to foment rebellion. The troubles faced by the twelfth-century kings in Moray and Ross and on the western seaboard are ample testimony to the potential threat posed by great magnates. It was, therefore, essential for the crown to harness the influence of the nobility in the interests of stable government throughout the realm.

Traditionally, late medieval Scotland was regarded as a land riven by feuds among bloodthirsty magnates whose excesses the kings were powerless to curb. Such an image was an inevitable consequence of our reliance on narrative sources, and our knowledge of affairs in Scotland is still coloured by the relative paucity of documentary records until the very end of the fifteenth century. Chroniclers were inevitably more interested in noteworthy events than in routine matters of government. They report murders, plots, battles, the deaths of kings.