Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 171A: Scotichronicon (Volume 1)

purl.stanford.edu/cm287zk2842

Title:

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 171A: Scotichronicon (Volume 1)

Alternate Title:

Scotichronicon

Language:

Latin and English, Middle (1100-1500)

Extent:

ff. 20 + 371

Dimensions:

292 Height (mm) and 203 Width (mm)

Approximate Date:

[ca. 1400 - 1499]

Provenance:

Formerly belonged to the Abbey of Inchcolm: see later

Table of contents:

Show

• Chronologies. Lists of kings, popes and emperors
• Scotichronicon (Volume 1)

Description:

CCCC MS 171, divided into two parts, A and B, since James' description in 1912, contains the Scotichronicon by Walter Bower (1385-1449), a history of the kingdom of Scotland beginning with its foundation on the arrival of Scota, daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh. This chronicle was a continuation and expansion of the Chronica gentis Scotorum by John Fordun (d. after 1363). The manuscript was written c. 1447-9 at the Augustinian abbey of Inchcolm in Fife and was amended under the direction of Bower himself, abbot of Inchcolm (d. 1449). It is considered to be one of the most important texts of late medieval Scottish historical writing in existence and was used as the basis for the nine-volume edition of the text published under the general editorship of D. E. R. Watt. There are a few coloured full and half-page drawings of major narrative events such as the Battle of Bannockburn and the Coronation and funeral of Alexander III. It is not known how this manuscript came to be in Parker's collection.