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 VII and VIII
  • The Manuscripts
  • Content and Sources
  • Methods of Editing
• Lists of Abbreviations
  • I. Sigla
  • II. Words
  • III. Names of Counties
  • IV. Publications
• Scotichronicon
  • Book VII
    • 1 Various events
    • 2 The same
    • 3 A victory of the Britons over the pagan Saxons, or, as some say, of the newly-converted Saxons over the Britons
    • 4 St Patrick
    • 5 Gibrian the Scot, Clovis king of the Franks, and others
    • 6 Other events
    • 7 Dryhthelm, who rose from the dead and became a monk at Melrose
    • 8 The explanation of that vision
    • 9 Other events
    • 10 How the Saracens besieging Constantinople were drowned because of a miracle of the Virgin
    • 11 An earthquake and a perfect letter
    • 12 Some events
    • 13 More on Charlemagne and his good deeds
    • 14 The successors of Charlemagne
    • 15 More on Louis and his sons
    • 16 The same Lothair and other events
    • 17 Marvellous events and the Emperor Charles
    • 18 The same Charles the Bald, and other events
    • 19 The vision of torments revealed to Charles
    • 20 More on the same man, and how he saw his father in torment
    • 21 How he saw his uncle Lothair in Paradise
    • 22 The Northmen
    • 23 More on the Northmen and how they were converted to the faith
    • 24 The conversion of Rollo and the return of the body of St Martin
    • 25 Certain events and the institution of the feast of All Souls
    • 26 The vengeance of God on the dancers in the churchyard (William)
    • 27 The virtuous pretence of the Emperor Henry III
    • 28 The same man, and how much the Devil enjoyed a brawl and dispute and arranged their occurrence
    • 29 The sorceress snatched by demons in Beverley
    • 30 The youth who married a statue of Venus
    • 31 The foundation of the Grande Chartreuse; and William Rufus king of England the pernicious son of the Bastard
    • 32 His most vile deeds
    • 33 The punishment and plagues which afflicted the English in his time
    • 34 His death and the preceding omens
    • 35 Baldwin king of the men of Jerusalem and others
    • 36 The expedition overseas
    • 37 The flight of the Turks and a description of the city
    • 38 How Jerusalem was captured
    • 39 A description of the same and King Godfrey
    • 40 The holy and remarkable places of Jerusalem
    • 41 The woman from Laon who by virtue of confession escaped the flames
    • 42 That the hours of the Blessed Virgin be recited and her office performed on Saturdays
    • 43 How even with the doors of the church open the pope could not enter through them
    • 44 As some sort of repayment for the favour he decreed that there should be an office for her
    • 45 How she snatched a cleric from damnation as he gloried in reciting Lauds
    • 46 The drowned cleric was awarded a recall to life
    • 47 The mystical significance of the letters of the word Ave
    • 48 More on the same
    • 49 The man who fasted on Saturdays out of reverence for the Virgin and could not die unconfessed
    • 50 The successful passage of the Christian army and the clerk converted through a vision
    • 51 Certain portents and the death of Emperor Henry IV
    • 52 The punishment of the man who dishonoured his parents
    • 53 Various events
    • 54 Other events
    • 55 More remarkable events of this time and the miraculous victory of the Christians
    • 56 Other remarkable events of this time and the death of this Emperor Henry
    • 57 Blessed Bernard and other events
    • 58 The above
    • 59 The same Bernard disputes with heretics
    • 60 The violence of lightning and thunder
    • Notes for Book VIII
  • Book VIII
    • 1 Malcolm the Maiden king of Scots
    • 2 How the under-king of Argyll rebelled against his king
    • 3 King Henry II of England and Malcolm king of Scots
    • 4 The same King Malcolm
    • 5 Further concerning [the pope’s] complaint, and how the higher the position a man holds the more completely he is enslaved
    • 6 How King Malcolm vanquished Somerled and refused to marry
    • 7 Various events, and the exile of St Thomas of Canterbury
    • 8 How the cardinals were corrupted, and supported the king of England against St Thomas
    • 9 How the king vented his fury upon the archbishop’s relatives. Fierce attacks by wolves
    • 10 The cruelty of this Henry of England [and the Devil in the shape of a horse]
    • 11 The vision of a cleric who spoke to the king in verse, and the king’s replies to each of his questions
    • 12 King William, the brother of the aforesaid King Malcolm
    • 13 How King William set out for France against the wishes of his own people
    • 14 How the elder Henry had his son Henry crowned to spite St Thomas
    • 15 Roger [arch-] bishop of York tries to make the church of Scotland subject to him
    • 16 The life of St Thomas
    • 17 How the [arch-]bishop resisted the unjust decrees
    • 18 How Thomas went into exile and was given strength to bear that exile by a verse [of Cato]
    • 19 His martyrdom, and the discord between father and son etc.
    • 20 The holding of two bishoprics at one and the same time
    • 21 The same topic
    • 22 Here King William is captured
    • 23 The agreeement between the two Henrys, father and son
    • 24 The freeing of King William from captivity, and some good examples which advance our argument
    • 25 The fickleness of the men of Galloway; and the attempt by the English to make the Scottish church subject to them
    • 26 The reply of Gilbert the noble Scots cleric to the English who were reproaching him with his own words
    • 27 Some events
    • 28 How the same Philip could endure in his kingdom neither usurpers of the liberties and property of churches nor despotic rulers
    • 29 Some events
    • 30 Various events
    • 31 The expulsion of the Jews from the kingdom [of France]
    • 32 The punishment meted out to mercenaries by the same king
    • 33 Peace made in a miraculous way between those who were at variance with each other
    • 34 How the king caused Paris to be embellished with paved ways of stone
    • 35 The complexion of the sin of simony and its danger
    • 36 Still the same topic
    • 37 The punishment inflicted on women guilty of simony
    • 38 How the earth engulfed the monastery
    • 39 The mutual slaughter and wars in the kingdom at the time of the king’s captivity
    • 40 How the king of England began to support the men of Galloway, and other events
    • 41 Some events
    • 42 How the most Christian King Philip expelled jongleurs, actors and[diceplayers]
    • 43 The loss of the Holy Cross and of Jerusalem, and the birth of Louis son of Philip
    • 44 Philip king of France and Henry king of England take the cross along with many others
    • 45 The breach of the treaty between the two kings, Philip and Henry, by Count Richard son of the said Henry
    • 46 The flight and death of King Henry Fitz Empress, and the beginning of King Richard’s [reign]
    • 47 How blood oozed from the nostrils of the dead king because of his anger towards his ungrateful son
    • 48 The restoration of our castles and the abandonment of the claim to overlordship by the English
    • 49 A copy of the letter of renunciation of claims over the kingdom etc.
    • 50 Other events, and King Philip’s will
    • 51 The kings of France and England, Philip and Richard, travel across the seas to bring aid to the Holy Land
    • 52 The death of the emperor while journeying to Outremer, and other events
    • 53 King Philip’s return to France
    • 54 King Richard’s return to England, and the choice of Henry as king of Jerusalem
    • 55 The concord established between the kingdoms, and the death of Saladin
    • 56 The war between the two kings and an amazing storm
    • 57 How King Richard did homage to King Philip [and concerning Maurice the good bishop of Paris]
    • 58 Miraculous events
    • 59 The legate and King William
    • 60 The death of Richard king of the English; [and his brother John]
    • 61 A peace treaty agreed between the kings [of France and England] but soon broken
    • 62 How King William checked the tyrannical rule of the earl of Orkney; and concerning a self-indulgent bishop and ordinary etc.
    • 63 How the monk Helinand wittily made a fool of a bishop [who was the ordinary for his monastery]
    • 64 The castles captured by Philip
    • 65 How Philip king of France subdued the whole of Normandy and Poitou
    • 66 Various events
    • 67 The privilege of the Scottish church that it be subject to no one except the Roman pontiff
    • 68 A similar privilege granted to the same king by [Pope] Celestine
    • 69 The obstinacy of John king of the English arising from the encouragement given him by his relative the emperor Otto
    • 70 The difficult nature of the negotiations between the kings
    • 71 The agreement made between the kings of the Scots and the English
    • 72 The fuller agreement entered into between them
    • 73 Other events of this year
    • 74 The unjust rule of King John in Ireland. His conquest of the country
    • 75 How the Irish submitted to the king of England
    • 76 How King William sent an army into Ross against Mac William
    • 77 John subdued Wales and renewed his treaty with William
    • 78 How the king of England planned through trickery to have King Alexander [in his power] so that thereby he might get control of Scotland for himself
    • 79 The death of King William
    • Notes for Book VI
  • Index