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 XI and X
  • The Manuscripts
  • Content and Sources
  • Methods of Editing
• Lists of Abbreviations
  • I. Sigla
  • II. Words
  • III. Names of Counties
  • IV. Publications
• Scotichronicon - Volume 6
  • Book XI
    • 1. The appointment and rule of the guardians of Scotland after the death of the king
    • 2. Discussion of the rights of John de Balliol and Robert Bruce
    • 3. What follows shows how the king of England had the Scots summoned deceitfully
    • 4. The substance of the misleading proposition of the Lord Edward king of England sent to France concerning the succession to the kingdom of the Scots
    • 5. The same topic and how the king presented the case unjustly and falsely
    • 6. The same topic
    • 7. The same topic
    • 8. The decision of the following [consultant] supports King Robert
    • 9. Still the same topic
    • 10. King Edward’s subtlety and malice, and the appointment of a jury to proceed on the matter of the right to the kingdom
    • 11. How the king was advised not to pronounce judgment on the right to the throne of Scotland without that country’s subjection
    • 12. So that the rights of Bruce and Balliol may be more fully understood, a brief account of the kings of Scotland follows
    • 13. The daughters of David de Huntingdon
    • 14. Still about the progeny of Earl David and the daughters of St Margaret and their issue
    • 15. The events and proceedings leading to the deprivation of Macduff, brother of the earl of Fife
    • 16. The terms of the treaty
    • 17. The same
    • 18. How King John retracted the homage done to the king of England. The process of his deposition
    • 19. Division is the most harmful thing in a kingdom
    • 20. The taking of the town of Berwick and the deception of the English
    • 21. The expulsion of English beneficed clergy and others from the kingdom of Scotland
    • 22. How King Robert conferred the priory of Coldingham on the monastery of Dunfermline
    • 23. The monks of Durham ought not to be in Coldingham
    • 24. Despite these circumstances, he was accepted as prior etc.
    • 25. The supporters of John de Balliol and Robert de Bruce, and the answer of the king of England to Robert Bruce
    • 26. The capture of King John and the resignation of the kingdom into the hands of the king of England
    • 27. How the community of Scotland performed homage to the king of England and the magnates took an oath to protect the kingdom
    • 28. The origins and beginnings of William Wallace
    • 29. How he destroyed Northumbria
    • 30. How William the guardian of Scotland routed and vanquished the English without a battle
    • 31. The plot conceived by the magnates against the guardian
    • 34. The battle of Falkirk and other matters
    • 35. The truce granted to the community of Scotland at the instance of the king of France; and the sending of envoys to the Roman Court
    • 36. A copy of a letter sent by the lord pope to the archbishop of Canterbury
    • 37. A copy of the papal letter presented to the king by the archbishop of Canterbury
    • 38. The same
    • 39. There follows an answer of a kind to the said letter from the pope composed by the barons of England
    • 40. The reply sent by the king of England to the lord pope setting out the rights which he claims in the kingdom of Scotland
    • 41. The same charges
    • 42. The same fiction and false charges
    • 43. Still the same
    • 44. Copies of various letters sent to the Lord Boniface VIII by the said King Edward to cloak the deceit on his part against the Scots
    • 45. A copy of a second letter of the said Gregory sent to the pope by the king of England
    • 46. The proctors at the curia sent the said copies to the kingdom. After taking advice the Scots sent back to the same men the following instructions
    • 47. The instructions etc. follow
    • 48. The same
    • 49. Still the same
    • 50. The same
    • 51. The same
    • 52. The same
    • 53. The same
    • 54. Still the same
    • 55. The same
    • 56. The same
    • 57. Here begins Baldred’s pleading against the fictions of the king of England
    • 58. The same pleading
    • 59. The same
    • 60. The same
    • 61. The same
    • 62. The same
    • 63. The same
    • 64. The same
    • Notes for Book XI
  • Book XII
    • 1. How John Comyn and Simon Fraser played a manful part
    • 2. The battle of Roslin, where the forces of the English were defeated three times in one day
    • 3. How the king of England, after traversing the lowlands and mountains of Scotland, received the community into his peace, and nearly all the magnates except William Wallace
    • 4. How the king besieged the castle of Stirling. The first beginnings of Robert Bruce
    • 5. The agreement between Bruce and Comyn, and the accusation made against Bruce to the king of England by Comyn
    • 6. The accusation [against Bruce] and his escape
    • 7. The killing of Sir John Comyn by Robert Bruce
    • 8. The treachery of John Menteith, the death of William Wallace and the tyranny of King Edward
    • 9. The coronation of King Robert de Bruce
    • 10. How he sent to the Roman Curia for absolution from the excommunication which he incurred in the church for the death of John Comyn
    • 11. The battles of Methven and Dalry and the various tribulations of the king
    • 12. For the wise man no fortune is evil and unrelenting toil conquers all things
    • 13. The rout at Slioch and the death of the tyrant Edward
    • 14. How William Bannister, terrified by a vision of the king, came to reject the world
    • 15. The resemblance between false worldly honour and a horse
    • 16. After the death of the tyrant and the coronation of his son, Robert began to revive and achieve results
    • 17. The rout at Inverurie and other matters
    • 18. The king’s struggle against the men of Argyll, and the capture of Perth
    • 19. The capture of various castles and of Roxburgh
    • 20. The complete victory at Bannockburn where the English were vanquished
    • 21. Some verses on the battle of Bannockburn
    • 22. The ostentatious advance of the king of England to Bannockburn
    • 23. The noble poet and his poem
    • 24. The tailzie of King Robert
    • 25. The king’s brother is chosen to be king of Ireland, and the bishop of Dunkeld
    • 26. The letter sent to the lord pope by the Irish
    • 27. The same topic
    • 28. The same topic
    • 29. The same topic
    • 30. The same topic
    • 31. The same topic
    • 32. The same topic
    • 33. Copy of the bull sent by Pope Adrian to King Henry II of England
    • 34. The nature of Ireland and what it contains
    • 35. Wild beasts and their natures
    • 36. The same topic
    • 37. The capture of Berwick and the battle of Dundalk
    • Notes for Book XII
  • Index