A History Book for Scots: Selections from Scotichronicon

by Walter Bower, D.E.R. Watt (Editor)

Writing on a small island in the Firth of Forth in the 1440s, Walter Bower set out to tell the whole story of the Scottish nation in a single huge book, the Scotichronicon—'a history book for Scots'. It begins with the mythical voyage of Scota, the Pharaoh's daughter, from Egypt with the Stone of Destiny. The land that her sons discovered in the Western Ocean was named after her: Scotland. It goes on to describe the turbulent events that followed, among them the wars of the Scots and the Picts (begun by a quarrel over a dog); the poisoning of King Fergus by his wife; Macbeth's usurpation and uneasy reign; the good deeds of Margaret, queen and saint; Bruce's murder of the Red Comyn; the founding of Scotland's first university at St Andrews; the 'Burnt Candlemas'; and the endless troubles between Scotland and England.

Weaving in and out of the events of Bower's factual history, like a wonderful pageant, are other subjects that fascinated him: harrowing visions of hell and purgatory, extraordinary miracles; the exploits of knights and beggars, merchants and monks; the ravages of flood and fire; the terrors of the plague; and the answers to such puzzling questions as what makes a good king, and why Englishmen have tails.

In 1998 Donald Watt and his team of scholars completed the first modern edition and translation of Scotichronicon in nine volumes. It has been described as 'a massive achievement for Scottish cultural history' (Sally Mapstone) and 'an open invitation to join a voyage of discovery' (Books in Scotland). This selection from the whole of Scotichronicon puts Bower's epic of Scotland into the hands of the general reader. It is a marvellous and unforgettable story. Perhaps its importance is best summed up by Bower himself, who wrote at the end of it: Non Scotus est Christe cui liber non placet iste—Christ! He is not a Scot who is not pleased with this book! A History Book for Scots is selected from the complete edition of Scotichronicon by Walther Bower, edited by D.E.R. Watt and a team of scholars, in nine volumes.

Genres: History, Scotland

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Abbot Walter Bower (or Bowmaker; c. 1385 – 1449) was a Scottish canon regular of Inchcolm Abbey in the Firth of Forth, who is noted as a chronicler of his era. He was born about 1385 at Haddington, East Lothian, in the Kingdom of Scotland.

Bower was trained at the University of St. Andrews and became the abbot of the Augustinian community on Inchcolm in 1417. He also acted as one of the commissioners for the collection of the ransom of King James I of Scotland in 1423 and 1424. Later, in 1433, he took part in a diplomatic mission to Paris to discuss the possibility of marriage of the king's daughter to the Dauphin of France. He played an important part at the Council of Perth of 1432 in the defence of Scottish rights.

During Bower's closing years he was engaged on his work, the Scotichronicon, on which his reputation now chiefly rests. This work, undertaken in 1440 by desire of a neighbour, Sir David Stewart of Rosyth Castle, was a continuation of the Chronica Gentis Scotorum of John of Fordun. The completed work, in its original form, consisted of sixteen books, of which the first five and a portion of the sixth (to 1163) are Fordun's - or mainly his, for Bower added to them at places. In the later books, down to the reign of Robert I (1371), he was aided by Fordun's Gesta Annalia, but from that point to the close the work is original and of contemporary importance, especially for James I, with whose death it ends. The task was finished in 1447.

Reviews

[Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did a review of the Aberdeen university press edition of the first volume of bower's chronicle here:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...

This edition is an anthology of the various tales of the early history of Scotland, consisting of some very interesting historical insights and other very bizarre tales such as why the 'English have tails'. The chronicle was written from a perspective of a 15th century Scottish abbot who was incredibly zealous in his faith. One of the many sections in his chronicle relates to a Swedish princess receiving from Christ instructions to the king of Sweden about how to crusade against the 'pagans of the north' and the 'infidel saracens'.

Aside from the religious nature of the work, we see elaborations of Fordun's chronicle, written one hundred years earlier, and excerpts from Geoffrey of Monmouth such as the tale of Fulgentius and his revolt, all of which are fabrications of the truth. The chronicle does present us with some new information about how my medieval Scottish kinsmen observed their ancient customs and origin. The mythical origin according to Bower is that an Egyptian princess sailed across the oceans to Ireland and established the Scottish people, who would later sail to Albion. The Scots were soon however contacted by the newly established Pictish kingdom and they formed a bond of matrimony between the two nations, which is alluded to in the words of many Scottish kings in Bower's chronicle as their justification for their unceasing wars against the Picts in the 8th century. Bower then moves onto panegyrics of figures such as Charlemagne and Kenneth Mac Alpin. The panegyric of Charlemagne is outright bizarre. In it, he claims that Charlemagne had the strength to pick up multiple soldiers with one hand whilst on horseback, and that Charlemagne conquered all of Spain from the Muslims- even though what he is telling us is a gross exaggeration of the truth. I understand why figures such as Einhard would make such absurd claims considering that they were contemporaries of Charlemagne, but this coming from someone born almost 500 years after the coronation of Charlemagne is outright strange!

The historical validity of this chronicle is often skewed by such strange distorted tales as the ones mentioned before and it serves more as a historical source for the late medieval Scottish mindset than a brilliant source for medieval Scottish history. The chronicle has traces of former chroniclers like Thietmar and Fredegar in its utter distraction from good historical recording.
If you are to read this strange chronicle, I would definitely read the latin-english text translation rather than his anthology if you have access to it, which is probably only likely if you live near a university in Scotland( I myself reading my edition via the Edinburgh central library) .

[David Santiuste]

The Scotichronicon is an important source for historians of late medieval Scotland. The author, Walter Bower, was well-informed about contemporary events, but his chronicle also provides us with a valuable insight into the ways in which medieval Scots thought about the past. This book includes a well-chosen selection of excerpts, in translation, making Bower's work accessible to a wide range of readers.

[Abu-Isa Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I found out there is a book called "the Scotichronicon," I had to read it. Bower does an excellent job of prefacing his selections to allow easy reference and include important contextual information from outside the primary source. This is definitely a reference book that every armchair historian interested in European or Scottish history must have on hand.

[Ravanagh Allan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting origin story. It seems only the Picts were from the Caucasus/Scythia; while the Scots were of Greco-Egyptian stock (if you believe it). But frankly, no-one is certain how the Celts got to Western Europe, though archæology suggests Central European immediate origin.

That was what I was reading for, so I didn’t go through all the mediæval stuff.