Short Scottish Prose Chronicles

Edition, with facing translation, of chronicles from the late medieval/early modern period, concerning the history of Scotland.

The seven chronicles edited here record Scottish history as it circulated in the late fifteenth century and the early sixteenth century in abbreviated and mostly vernacular texts, intended for a broader, less educated audience than was served by the great Latin chronicles of Fordun, Bower, Boece, and their successors. They reflect the greatly expanded literacy of the end of the Middle Ages, and the consequent necessity of educating a broader public in theoutlines of Scottish history and contemporary Scottish politics. They build their version of medieval events on Scotland's foundation myths and exhibit a distinct anti-English bias - indeed, the Scottis Originale began a type of Scottish anti-Arthurian tradition. They thus present an alternative and distinctly "Scottish" view of "history".
The chronicles are presented here with with comprehensive notes and glossaries. They are: La Vraie Cronicque d'Escoce, The Scottis Originale, The Chronicle of the Scots, The Ynglis Chronicle, Nomina Omnium Regum Scotorum, The Brevis Chronica, The St Andrews Chronicle.

Dan Embree is Emeritus Professor of English, Mississippi State University; Edward Donald Kennedy is Emeritus Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Kathleen Daly was formerly Senior Lecturer in History at the Open University, UK

A wonderful achievement that will make detailed intertextual work much easier to accomplish in the future. RENAISSANCE QUARTERLY Its authoritative versions of hitherto unpublished or inaccessible chronicles are valuable tools for those with a variety of interests in Scottish history. . . . The erudite and entertaining introduction to the volume clearly and concisely illustrates the variety of insights to be gleaned from these chronicles and sets them in their literary and historical background, making the richness of Scottish historical writing, and the history of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Scotland, accessible and profitable to scholars and students alike. SCOTTISH HISTORICAL REVIEW The editors and translators should be commended for their erudite scholarship. Editing a volume of seven different chronicles, in multiple languages, is no small task. The seven chronicles are meticulously transcribed and edited, and the translations are faithful and accurate. The textual notes occupy roughly one-third of the book; they are substantial and helpful to the reader. Any questions that I had while reading theses chronicles were answered in full in these notes or in the bountiful bibliographic footnotes. The glossary is meticulous. This book is a substantial contribution to late medieval Scottish historical writing. THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW Scholars of medieval Scottish history and literature have an erudite (but accessible) one-stop shop from which to research - and teach - some of the neglected gems of Older Scots historiography. ARCHIV A scholarly and accessible volume. JOURNAL OF SCOTTISH HISTORICAL STUDIES