Nigel Tranter
Nigel Tranter (1909 - January 9, 2000) was a Scottish historian and an author. From his childhood onwards, he took a great interest in castles and their associated history. As a result, in 1935 he published his first book, The Fortalices and Early Mansions of Southern Scotland. Over the next few years, he wrote several entirely fictional novels set in various periods of Scottish history and several westerns (under the pseudonym Nye Tredgold), before publishing between 1962 and 1971 the landmark series in five volumes, The Fortified House in Scotland. This covered the history and structure of every castle and similar structure in Scotland, 663 buildings in all and is still well worth reading for those who have an interest in this specialist area.While researching the castles, Tranter realised that there were many characters and incidents in Scottish history which could be used as the basis for novels, which he tried to make as accurate as possible. This was the direction which his writing then took, starting with the Master of Gray in 1961. He continued in this vein until his death, producing carefully researched historical novels about real people and events. These novels have gained a wide readership while providing a basic grounding in Scottish history to their readers.
