A 500-YEAR-OLD manuscript that sheds new light on the Scottish Wars of Independence, William Wallace and the Stone of Destiny, has been made available to the public for the first time.
The handwritten manuscript is a copy of John Mair’s History of Greater Britain, which is regarded as one of the most influential and innovative histories of Scotland and England of the sixteenth century.
It also contains a “hand-copied pamphlet” chronicling Scotland’s earlier history and has been acquired by the University of St Andrews after being held in a private collection in Norway for 34 years.
The university has now made the historic texts available to the public for the first time in 500 years.
Professor Dauvit Broun, an expert on medieval Scottish history from the University of Glasgow, said the book likely has the earliest version of the legend about the Stone of Destiny and that there is evidence that Wallace was not the sole leader of the uprising against King Edward in 1297.
“It is extremely rare to have a manuscript on Scottish history that was originally created for and owned by the likes of an Edinburgh priest rather than by royalty, major churches and churchmen or the aristocracy,” he said.
“Not only that but bound into it is an earlier home-made pamphlet kind of Manuscript that would once have been quite common as a way of disseminating Scottish history but hardly ever survives.
“The contents of this home-made pamphlet include a chronicle for the years 1286 to 1327 which has a few bits of new information (for example, seven—not six—guardians were elected to rule Scotland after Alexander III's tragic death in 1286, as well as Wallace co-leading the attack on the sheriff of Lanark, rather than leading on his own: it also gives us the exact date—3 May 1297—of when this happened).
“It also has a copy of what is likely to be the earliest version of the legend about the Stone of Destiny.
“The manuscript also has the potential to shed new light on Scottish national identity in the late Middle Ages. The inserted pamphlet shows an even clearer identification with Scotland as an independent kingdom than Mair's history does. It is striking, though, that the pamphlet is a collection of texts which provide different kinds of information about the Scottish and British past. It is not pushing a particular version of Scotland as a nation”
The manuscript is believed to date back to around 1510 and its first listed owner was Robert Robertoun, a chaplain of Edinburgh.
The small book is bound in stamped leather over wooden boards and originally should have been fastened with a clasp.
The stamps include an unidentified beast and a hound chasing a hare with the text inside being neatly handwritten with a Latin script, with capitals and decorations added in red.
The manuscript was sold in 1990 by a bookseller from Bangor, in Northern Ireland, and was bought at auction by Norwegian collector Martin Schoyen.
It was in a London auction earlier this year with a valuation of £277,000 and will join the university’s rare book collection which has been curated for 600 years and contains more than 200,000 rare literature and many medieval and early modern manuscripts.
Elizabeth Henderson, a rare books librarian at the University, said the book potentially has its ties with St Andrews as some of the names correlate to students studying at the institution in the early 16th century.
“It’s really important that a manuscript like this is held in a public institution like in St Andrews where it can be cared for in perpetuity and can also where it can be made accessible for research.
“It’s a Scottish manuscript about the history of and origins of Scotland, it’s been through a succession of Scottish owners since the 16th century so there’s a real resonance having it back in a Scottish institution.
“The first name listed as owner describes himself as a ‘chaplain of Edinburgh’. However, some of the names listed as owners of the book potentially correlate to students in St Andrews who were studying in the early 16th century - indicating an even greater correlation with St Andrews than previously thought.”
Now the manuscript has been digitised and made available online for the first time.
Sean Rippington, head of Archives and Rare books at the University said: “The digital version opens it up to new forms of investigation and research. We wanted to give democratic access for people to see and connect with it. It’s for being read and researched, not for being observed from afar.
“The University of St Andrews is its permanent home. It has been in private ownership for its entire existence, meaning relatively few people have seen it, so we are keen to make it available to the wider population in as far as possible.”
You can view the manuscript online here.
