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.

• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction to Books I and II
• The Manuscripts
• Content and Sources
• Methods of Editing
• Lists of Abbreviations
• I. Sigla
• II. Words
• III. Names of Counties
• IV. Publications
• Scotichronicon
  • Book I
    • 1 The material worlds, that is to say the earth and its four cardinal points, east etc
    • 2 The four cardinal winds and their eight collateral winds and the summit of the material world in the east, that is the earthly paradise
    • 3 The three parts of the world divided unequally and the Mediterranean Sea
    • 4 The division of the three parts of the world among the three sons of Noah etc.
    • 5 The position of certain regions of Europe
    • 6 The same continued and the larger islands of Europe
    • 7 The numbers of the years from the beginning of the world in ages
    • 8 A brief summary of the contents of the six ages up to Constantine the Great
    • 9 The first move in the origin of the Scots and their first king Gaythelos
    • 10 The succession of kings in Egypt up to the time of the Pharaoh [Chencres]
    • 11 The time at which the Scots had their first beginnings and from whom etc.
    • 12 The election of Gaythelos as king; his departure etc.
    • 13 The time of Gaythelos’ settlement in Africa
    • 14 The reason for his withdrawal from Egypt
    • 15 How Gaythelos obtained his first settlement in Spain
    • 16 The incessant slaughter of his people in that place, which caused him to send out explorers to search for [new] territory
    • 17 More about Gaythelos. How he exhorted his sons to go to the said island
    • 18 How Hiber the son of Gaythelos came to the said island and took possession of it
    • 19 What Isidore and Bede wrote about Ireland
    • 20 The laws which Gaythelos first gave to his people
    • 21 The succession of Hiber son of Gaythelos to the kingship of the Scots
    • 22 Micelius king of the Scots in Spain etc.
    • 23 What Geoffrey [of Monmouth] wrote about Partholomus son of Micelius
    • 24 Discrepancies in histories
    • 25 About the time of the first capture of Rome it was not the Scots but the Picts who were attempting to settle in Ireland and were sent to Albion by the Scots
    • 26 How the chronicle justifies the discrepancies of histories
    • 27 The third expedition of the Scots to Ireland undertaken by Simon Brecc; his genealogy
    • 28 More about Simon Brecc, the royal throne of stone and the prophecy concerning it
    • 29 The first leader of the Scots to live in the [islands] of Albion
    • 30 The arrival of the Picts in Ireland for settlement there etc.
    • 31 What Bede wrote about the arrival of the Picts
    • 32 The first cause of the coming of the Scots to the island of Albion
    • 33 Heathen gods
    • 34 More about heathen gods and the stupidity of the heathen in such matters
    • 35 The origin of images and idols
    • 36 The first king of Scots of those who reigned in Albion
    • 37 The northern parts of Albion had previously been occupied by tribes of Picts and Scots
    • Notes for Book I
  • Book II
    • 1 The situation, length and breadth of the island of Albion and its change of name to Britain and Scotland
    • 2 Various excerpts from Geoffrey [of Monmouth] which show that Britain was separate from Scotland
    • 3 Excerpts from William of Malmesbury and Bede confirming this same point
    • 4 Passages from the same authors maintaining the opposite point of view etc.
    • 5 Which Brutus it was who first led the Britons when they came to the island of Albion
    • 6 The division of the three kingdoms of the Britons amongst the sons of Brutus
    • 7 The nature and extent of Scotland as it is now or was of old
    • 8 The lowlands and highlands of Scotland and what they contain
    • 9 The division of peoples and languages etc. in Scotland
    • 10 The islands of Scotland apart from the Orkneys
    • 11 The Orkney Islands
    • 12 When Fergus son of Feradach first king of the Scots in Scotland began to reign; his martial arms
    • 13 Rether [Eochaid Riada] the descendant of King Fergus
    • 14 The envoys sent by Julius Caesar to the kings of the Scots and Picts etc.
    • 15 The replies sent by the same kings to Julius in a letter
    • 16 The sudden return of Julius as a result of the rebellion of the Gauls etc.
    • 17 The first consulship of Julius Caesar; how he seized power at Rome by force
    • 18 Why the dates of the Roman emperors must be given in this work
    • 19 The death of Julius Caesar, and the amazing punishment of the traitors
    • 20 The time of the succession of the emperor Octavian
    • 21 The manner of giving birth, and in what way the glorious Virgin gave birth to her son
    • 22 How the mother worshipped her son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a crib
    • 23 The birth of Christ and also of John the Baptist
    • 24 Various events after the Incarnation and the succession of Tiberius
    • 25 The Passion and Resurrection of Christ
    • 26 The succession of Claudius Caesar
    • 27 More about Nero’s cruelty
    • 28 In the twelfth year of Claudius’s reign began the war of the Britons against the Scots
    • 29 The savagery of the wars of the Scots and Picts against the Britons
    • 30 The expulsion of the Moravians from their native land Moravia by the Romans
    • 31 The monument which Marius the commander of the Roman legions caused to be made as a war memorial; the succession of the emperors, and the portents before the siege of Jerusalem
    • 32 The destruction of Jerusalem, and the elevation of Vespasian to the imperial throne
    • 33 Titus, his generosity and his brother Domitian
    • 34 What Orosius and Augustine wrote about the rise and fall of Roman power
    • 35 The succession of various emperors
    • 36 The alliance of Fulgentius duke of Albany with the Scots
    • 37 Severus caused a wall to be built to keep out the Scots etc.
    • 38 Fulgentius lays siege to York and kills Severus
    • 39 What Bede wrote about the said wall and the death of Severus
    • 40 The Pope Victor I under whom the Scots adopted the catholic faith
    • 41 The ignoble succession of many emperors
    • 42 The first outbreak of dissension between the Scots and the Picts in the time of Diocletian
    • 43 The agreement made between Carausius and the Scots
    • 44 The ratification of the same agreement and the treaty between the Scots etc.
    • 45 The treacherous death of Carausius
    • 46 The succession of Galerius and Constantius and the war of Constantius against the Scots and the Britons of Albany
    • 47 How Constantine was afflicted with leprosy because of his persecution of the Christians and how he was cured because of his compassion etc.
    • 48 The text of the Golden Bull of the Donation to the church by Constantine the Great
    • 49 The succession of Constantine the Great and the killing of Maxentius; and also the conversion of St Catherine
    • 50 How Catherine was instructed by the hermit and received from him a likeness of the Virgin Mary
    • 51 How Mary appeared to her in her sleep along with her son, and the conversation they had with each other
    • 52 How Catherine was reborn and espoused by Christ with the ring of faith
    • 53 More about Constantine, and the leaders Traherius and Octavius
    • 54 Octavius restored peace to the three separate nations of the Island; Julian
    • 55 The monk Antony and the death of Arius
    • 56 Conan led the Scots and Picts to do battle against Maximus
    • 57 The Britons together with the Picts under the leadership of Maximus threw the Scots out of their kingdom
    • 58 The translation of the relics of St Andrew etc
    • 59 The angel instructed Regulus to take the relics and go to the west-north-west regions of the world
    • 60 Blessed Regulus first reached Scotland with the relics after shipwreck
    • 61 After Maximus had separated the Scots from the Picts and crushed them in war, he also subdued the Picts
    • 62 The presumptuous attempt of Maximus upon the Roman empire and Conan
    • 63 The most Christian acts of the emperor Theodosius I and his wife Flaccilla
    • 64 After the death of the tyrant Maximus the Scots began to win back their kingdom
    • Notes for Book II
• Index