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 V and VI
• The Manuscripts
• Content and Sources
• Methods of Editing
• Lists of Abbreviations
• I. Sigla
• II. Words
• III. Names of Counties
• IV. Publications
• Scotichronicon
  • Book V
    • 1. Concerning Macduff etc.
    • 2. Various examples cited by Malcolm [to show] that many kings have lost their kingdoms
    • 3. Macduff in reply produces the example of Octavian
    • 4. The second of Malcolm’s tests where he declares that he is a thief, and the reply of Macduff
    • 5. Malcolm’s third test
    • 6. Malcolm, reassured about Macduff’s loyalty, promised to return to the kingdom
    • 7. The return of Malcolm to Scotland and the battle in which Macbeth was slain
    • 8. The people of any kingdom who flee from an unlawful king in battle are absolved from blame
    • 9. The succession of Malcolm to the kingdom and other events
    • 10. More about Cnut and other events
    • 11. A duel between King Malcolm and a treacherous knight
    • 12. The traitor is overcome by shame
    • 13. The death of Edward king of the English and a certain vision
    • 14. The reasons for the coming of William the Bastard to England
    • 15. The wretched and treacherous life which the English lived
    • 16. The felicitous landing of Edgar the Ætheling and his sister St Margaret in Scotland
    • 17. The marriage of King Malcolm and Margaret
    • 18. The children of Malcolm and Margaret
    • 19. More about Gregory and Henry, and a similar rebuke from Ambrose to the emperor Theodosius
    • 20. The same
    • 21. The Northumbrians gave hostages and sided with King Malcolm
    • 22. The death of William the Bastard and the succession of William Rufus his son
    • 23. The virtuous works of the Saints Malcolm and Margaret
    • 24. The same continued
    • 25. The foundation of the church of Durham by King Malcolm, and the siege of the castle of Murealden, and the assassination of Malcolm
    • 26. The death of St Margaret and the siege of Edinburgh castle by Donald Ban
    • 27. The false accusation of Orgar against Edgar
    • 28. The duel continued
    • 29. Duncan bastard son of Malcolm obtained the kingdom from his uncle Donald; his death
    • 30. The return of the sons of Malcolm from England and the flight of Donald from the battle
    • 31. The passage of Christians especially the French to the Holy Land and the capture of Jerusalem
    • 32. The same
    • 33. The virtue of five places in Jerusalem
    • 34. The succession of King Edgar; and Berwick etc.
    • 35. The marriage of his sisters Matilda to King Henry and Mary to the count of Boulogne
    • 36. King Alexander I
    • 36a. The foundation of Scone
    • 37. The foundation of Inchcolm
    • 38. The investiture of prelates by secular princes and the renunciation of this kind of service, and blessed Bernard
    • 39. The death of the sisters of King Alexander and their eulogies
    • 39a. Copy of a letter emancipating the people of the English
    • 40. More in praise of Matilda
    • 41. The succession of blessed King David, and praise of him and his brothers
    • 42. The war that broke out between Kings David and Stephen, and the recovery of Northumbria and Cumbria
    • 43. The marriage of Henry son of David to Ada the daughter of Earl William de Warenne
    • 44. David arranged for his grandson to be taken around the kingdom
    • 45. The preface to the lamentation of Ailred for his death
    • 46. Lamentation
    • 47. The same
    • 48. The same, and the foundation of bishoprics and monasteries
    • 49. The same
    • 50. He was anxious to reconcile those that were at variance with one another
    • 51. The same and the fact that he would have abdicated, and made for Jerusalem, if he had not been dissuaded etc.
    • 52. The same and the fact that God punished him in the death of his son
    • 53. The same and how he introduced civilised behaviour to Scotland
    • 54. The same and that the Scots should learn from the misadventures of the English to preserve loyalty to their kings and harmony with each other for the future
    • 55. The same and how he had a premonition that the dissolution of his body was at hand
    • 56. The same and his unction
    • 57. The same and the fact that he remembered the poor at the ending of his life
    • 58. The same and his constant prayers
    • 59. The same and the departure of his soul
    • 60. His genealogy on his father’s side traced right back from him to Japheth
    • 61. The prologue to his genealogy on his mother’s side
    • 62. The same genealogy on his mother’s side according to Ailred
    • Notes for Book V
  • Book VI
    • 1. The good lineage of King David’s children on his mother’s side
    • 2. Their grandmother and uncle
    • 3. The noble Waltheof earl of Northumbria, the father of St Waltheof
    • 4. The imprisonment and beheading of St Waltheof the Martyr
    • 5. The prelude of different games played by Waltheof and his brother
    • 6. His good beginnings, and the death of his father
    • 7. How he fled from the world, became a regular canon and was appointed prior of Kirkham
    • 8. How a baby embraced him when celebrating mass at Christmas
    • 9. The beginning of Fordun’s preface to a summary of the noble line of succession of the kings of England which is a decoration for our kings
    • 10. An account of the line of succession of the most excellent kings of England
    • 11. King Alfred, who displayed the greatest possible respect for the clergy
    • 12. The same [king] and his son Edward
    • 13. Athelstan, [Edmund,] Eadred and Eadwig
    • 14. Edgar the Peace-maker and his sons
    • 15. The exile of King Æthelred, the death of Swein, and the recall of the king to the kingdom
    • 16. The succession of Edmund Ironside to the kingdom of England
    • 17. The duel between King Edmund and Cnut the Dane
    • 18. The unanimous agreement they reached on their own in the duel
    • 19. The treasonable murder of King Edmund by Eadric who perished on account of this
    • 20. The exile of the brothers and sons of King Edmund from the kingdom
    • 21. The punishment and sudden death of the traitor
    • 22. How the emperor sent to King Edward his nephew with his wife and daughters
    • 23. The succession of Harold son of the traitor [Godwine] and the treacherous betrayal of the kingdom The bishops of St Andrews after Kenneth son of Alpin
    • 24. The bishops of Kilrymont ( that is St Andrews) from the time of the expulsion of the Picts until now
    • 25. The election of St Waltheof abbot of Melrose to the see of St Andrews
    • 26. A canon who does not wish to consent to his own election
    • 27. The canon who was inspired to consent
    • 28. How Waltheof refused to become a bishop
    • 29. How Hugh became a monk to avoid being made a bishop
    • 30. How Waltheof became a monk instead of a canon
    • 31. How he was delivered from temptation and was made an abbot
    • 32. With Waltheof’s encouragement Earl Henry and his son Malcolm founded monasteries
    • 33. Waltheof’s alms-giving
    • 34. How the saint blessed the corn stored in the barns and multiplied it
    • 35. The election of Arnold abbot of Kelso to the see of St Andrews
    • 36. How King William drove John out of the bishopric and how John appealed to the Roman court because of this
    • 37. How he remained an exile at the Roman court for seven years
    • 37a. How he was appointed to the see of Dunkeld and received into the king’s favour
    • 38. How a perjurer is abhorrent on many counts
    • 39. How the bishop divided the see of Dunkeld
    • 40. The pope admires the bishop’s conscience and grants what was requested
    • 41. The succession of Roger and William as bishops of the same
    • 42. Abel, Gamelin and William Wischard who succeeded each other as bishops
    • 43. Bishops William Fraser and William Lamberton
    • 44. The bishops sir James Ben, sir William Bell elect, and William Laundels
    • 45. The same [ William Laundels] and sir Walter Trayl
    • 46. Bishop Henry Wardlaw
    • 47. James Kennedy bishop of St Andrews
    • 49. The priors of St Andrews until now
    • 50. Priors Robert, Walter, Gilbert and Thomas and Simon
    • 51. John White, Gilbert, John de Haddington, etc.
    • 52. The succession of John, John and William
    • 53. Other [priors]
    • 54. Robert de Montrose
    • 55. The same, and the pair of priors called James
    • 56. Still the same man
    • 57. William the prior-elect, and Prior James
    • Notes for Book VI
• Index