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- La Garde Écossaise: A Journey Through Early Modern History. A Guide.
La Garde Écossaise: A Journey Through Early Modern History. A Guide.
A guide to the novel series and its resources.
Dr Kirsteen M MacKenzie
January 09, 2026
Welcome to the Guide
A warm welcome to the La Garde Écossaise guide to the novel series and its resources.
This guide will be a permanent and a constant featured post on the newsletter website. It’s purpose is to provide an overview of the free resources currently available to educators, students and reenactors.
This inclues all audioguides, history podcasts and newsletters.
Below you will find the currently available resources in running order, highlighting how the book chapters, audioguides, history podcasts and newsletters all link together.
This will make it easier to search if you are looking for a particlar subject or post. You can always use ctrl + F to use the ‘Find’ feature in your browser if you need a shortcut, rather than browsing or alternatively you can go to the homepage of the newsletter and use the search box there.
A Journey through Early Modern History. The La Garde Ecossaise Historical Fiction Novels. An introduction to early modern history as told through the power of historical fiction.
BUY from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other retailers. Visit the official website for further details.
SUBSCRIBE to the official newsletter here to receive free short original articles and news on early modern history.
Currently Available Resources
All podcasts, audio guides and newsletters will be released on a Friday.
All materials are scheduled in advance.
Newsletters will be once every two weeks.
Audio guides and podcasts once a week.
All audio guides, podcasts and features in the newsletters will complement each other to provide a comprehensive overview of the novel series as well as early modern history.
N/A – Not applicable.
All resources are copyrighted to History Gateway Limited UK. Links to the resources can be posted and shared on teaching platforms and social media.
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Theme/Category | Audio Guide/Podcast | Newsletters | Book Chapter/Page Numbers |
Introduction and welcome | Audio guide: Introduction. | No 1. Welcome and Introduction! | N/A |
Introduction and welcome
Writing historical fiction | Audio guide: Chapter 1 The Author. | No 2. Why Write a Historical Fiction Novel and Not a Textbook? | N/A |
Family history foundations | Audio guide: Chapter 2 Ancestry 1641 Rebellion. | N/A | 17. 1641 pp. 142-146. |
What do we mean by ‘early modern?’ | Audio guide: Chapter 3 Ancestry Clan Donald. | No 3. What do we mean by ‘Early Modern’? | 27. Stranger Hospitality pp. 204-211. |
Family history foundations | Audio guide: Chapter 4 French Military Service. | N/A | 37. Tuttlingen to Jankow. pp. 289-303. |
Foundations of the Early Modern European World | Audio guide: Chapter 5 Iberian Wine Trade. | No 4. Six Foundations that help us understand the Early Modern European World Part I: Humanism, Renaissance and Dynastic Unions. | 47. La Bodega. pp. 370-376. |
Writing historical fiction | Audio guide: Chapter 6 The Franco British Relationship. | N/A | To the Reader pp. 2-5. |
Foundations of the Early Modern European World | Audio guide: Chapter 7 Where John Hamilton Come From? | No. 5. Six Foundations that help us understand the Early Modern European World Part II: Reformations, Sovereignty and the Printing Press. | N/A |
Writing historical fiction | Audio guide: Chapter 8 The Archives and Memoirs of La Garde Ecossaise. | N/A | Front piece by Robert Meldrum. |
Introducing our narrator | Audio guide: Chapter 9 To the Reader. | N/A | To the Reader pp. 2-5. |
Early Modern Places | Audio guide: Chapter 10 [1] Edinburgh and Leith. | No 6. Seventeenth-century Edinburgh and the Port of Leith. | 1. Edinburgh and Leith pp. 7-15. |
Social History and Society | Audio guide: Chapter 11 [2] Leith, London and St Malo. | No 7. Early Modern Shipwrecks in the English Channel: Goodwin Sands. | 2. Leith, London and St Malo pp. 16-36. |
Social History and Society | Audio guide: Chapter 12 [3] Auberge at Marly. | N/A | 3. Auberge at Marly: The First Encounter pp. 37-42. |
Jacobitism, Whigs and Tories | Podcast Season 1: Dear Readers. | N/A | To the Reader pp. 2-5. |
Church History, Religious History | Podcast Season 1: Religion in Early Modern Scotland. | No. 8. Conscientious Ministers and Sinful Parishioners: Restoration Parishes in Fife c.1660-1679. | 1. Edinburgh and Leith pp. 7-15. |
Visitor Guides to Early Modern Places | Podcast Season 1: Stuart London | N/A | 4. Leith, London and St Malo pp. 16-36. |
Social History and Society | Podcast Season 1: Early Modern France. | No. 9. British Travellers and their Impressions of Seventeenth-Century France. | 3. Auberge at Marly: The First Encounter pp. 37-42. |
| Audio guide: Chapter 13 [4] Irlandais. | N/A | 4. Irlandais pp. 44-49. |
Social History and Society | Audio guide: Chapter 14 [5] The Examination. | No.10: The Power of Early Modern Oaths. | 5. The Examination pp. 50-57. |
Introducing La Garde Écossaise | Audio guide: Chapter 15 [6] The Meeting. | N/A | 6. The Meeting pp. 58-68. |
Social History and Society | Audio guide: Chapter 16 [7] Elouise. | No.11: Life in an Early Modern French Village. | 7. Elouise pp. 69-76. |
| Audio guide : Chapter 17 [8] Le Monde Paraėlle. | N/A | 8. Le Monde Parallèle pp. 77-83. |
Military Discipline, Military History, Arms and Armies | Audio guide: Chapter 18 [9] Swordsplay. | No. 12. Sir William Hope and the Scottish Fencing Master. | 9. Swordplay pp. 84-95. |
Military Discipline, Military History, Arms and Armies | Audio guide : Chapter 19 [10] Physical Combat. | N/A | 10. Physical Combat pp.89-95. |
Military Discipline, Military History, Arms and Armies | Audio guide: Chapter [11] Sharpshooting. | No. 13. The Perfect Major: The Importance of Military Discipline and the Exercise of Arms in Early Modern Warfare. | 11. Sharpshooting pp. 96-100. |
Early Modern Sources | Audio guide: Chapter 21 [12] Intelligence. | N/A | 12. Intelligence pp. 101-107. |
Visitor Guides to Early Modern Places | Podcast Season 2: 1. Louis XIV and St Germain en Laye. | No. 14. The Palace of St Germain en Laye as a royal residence under Louis XIV c. 1643-1682. | 4. Irlandais pp. 44-49. |
Military Discipline, Military History, Arms and Armies | Podcast Season 2: 2. Rules of Engagement and Codes of Conduct. | N/A | 8. Le Monde Parallèle pp. 77-83. |
Military Discipline, Military History, Arms and Armies | Podcast Season 2: 3. The World of the Sword Master. | No. 15. Laws of Honor: Advice to Swordsmen Travelling to Louis XIVs France. | 9. Swordplay pp. 84-95. |
Military Discipline, Military History, Arms and Armies | Podcast Season 2: 4 The World of the Marksman. | N/A | 11. Sharpshooting pp. 96-100. |
Early Modern Sources | Podcast Season 2: 5 Spies and Intelligence in the Early Modern Period. | No.16. Intelligence in Contemporary Sources: Four Key Examples. | 12. Intelligence pp. 101-107. |
Louis XIV and William of Orange | Audio guide: Chapter 22: Further Notice to the Reader. | N/A | Further Notice to the Reader pp. 110-109. |
Visitor Guides to Early Modern Places | Audio guide: Chapter 23 [13] La Bibliothèque Mazarine. | No. 17. Early Modern Public Libraries: England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain and Germany. | 13. La Bibliothèque Mazarine pp. 111-117. |
I hope you find this guide helpful. It will be added to intermittently. Please subscribe to the audio guide, podcasts and newsletters to keep up to date with the latest releases.
New material will be issued shortly.
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