Contains the society's Report of the annual meeting, 1st- 1887-l9

Reproduction of the original. The publishing house Megali specialises in reproducing historical works in large print to make reading easier for people with impaired vision.

The Declaration of Arbroath, 6 April 1320, is one of the most remarkable documents to have been produced anywhere in Medieval Europe. Quoted by many, understood by few, its historical significance had now almost been overtaken by its mythic status. The beginning of a new century, in the wake of the re-establishment of the Scottish Parliament, seems an appropriate moment to re-examine one of Scotland's long-cherished historical icons. Since 1998 the US Senate has claimed that the American Declaration of Independence is modelled upon 'that inspirational document', and 6 April is celebrated annually as a day of national significance to all Americans, especially those of Scottish descent. So far such claims have not been the subject of scholarly investigation. This is the first book-length study to examine the origins of the Declaration and the ideas upon which it drew, while tracing the rise of its mythic status in Scotland and exploring its possible impact upon Revolutionary America.

Fresche fontanis contains twenty-five studies presenting major new research by leading scholars in Scottish culture of the late fourteenth and fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. The three-part collection includes essays on the prominent writers of the period: James I, Robert Henryson, William Dunbar, John Bellenden, David Lyndsay, John Stewart of Baldynneis, William Fowler, Alexander Montgomerie, Andrew Melville and Alexander Craig. There are also essays on the Scottish romances Lancelot of the Laik, Gilbert Hay’s Buik of King Alexander the Conquerour, The Buik of Alexander, Golagros and Gawain, and the comedic Rauf Coilyear, and the Scottish fabliau The Freiris of Berwick. Chronicles of Fordun, Bower, Wyntoun and Bellenden receive fresh attention in essays concerning Margaret of Scotland, and imperial ideas during the reign of James V. Essays on anthologies, family books, and collaborative compilations make another notable group, providing in-depth analysis, with findings not previously reported, of The Book of the Dean of Lismore, the Maitland Quarto manuscript and The Delitiae Poetarum Scotorum. These studies are enlarged by others on key contextualizing topics, including noble and royal literary patronage, early Scottish printing, performance, spectatorship, and translation. Together they make a significant contribution to a full understanding of the continuities and shifts in cultural emphases during this most imaginatively productive period.

Published in 1998. John Shirley’s importance as a scribe of late fourteen-and early fifteenth-century vernacular poetry (in particular the works of Chauncer and Lydgate) has long been recognised. Not only did Shirley bring these works to the attention of a wider audience in his own time, but the survival of some if his manuscripts has perpetuated these texts for future generations of readers. Indeed, some of these poems are now only known through his manuscripts. In this meticulously researched survey, Margaret Connolly makes a thorough examination of all extent documents relating to Shirley’s life and carefully scrutinises the physical characteristics of his manuscripts. In so doing she dispels many of the false interpretations that have arisen from speculation about the nature of Shirley’s scribal activities. The book concludes that there is no evidence to suggest that Shirley acted as a bookseller, but plenty to indicate that he lent his books extensively. This book’s survey of volumes owned or used by Shirley provides general insights into the availability and circulation of literary texts in the fifteenth century. Palaeographers and those with a general interest in the history of the book will find this studying fascinating.

Edition of fifteenth-century chronicles providing important evidence for contemporary events, including the Wars of the Roses. This edition makes available for the first time to a wider audience two historically important fifteenth-century English chronicles, with full scholarly apparatus and comprehensive introductions. The Dethe of the Kynge of Scotis gives full and graphic accounts of the murder of James I of Scotland in 1437, and the subsequent executions of his assassins; translated from a lost Latin narrative by John Shirley, it is edited from the only full text thathas survived. `Warkworth's Chronicle', usually ascribed erroneously to John Warkworth, master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, is a frequently-cited source for events in the Wars of the Roses between 1461 and 1473, and gives a contemporary assessment of the supposed murders of Edward, Prince of Wales, and of Henry VI by Richard of Gloucester. Professor LISTER M. MATHESON taught at Michigan State University.