Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland: Preserved in Her Majesty's Public Record Office, London. E-book. Formato PDF Joseph Bain   -  Forgotten Books, 2017  - 

The period of fifty years, over which the present volume extends, may be divided into two portions, the first embracing the reigns of Robert I. and Edward II., which nearly coincide; the second, those of David II., from 1329 till his return from captivity in 1357, and of Edward III., from 1327, for the first thirty years of his long tenure of the throne.Besides the Chronicon de Lanercost, the Gesta Annalia of Fordun, and works of that class, there are two other authorities of the highest value for the period embraced in this volume. These are the Scala Cronica of Sir Thomas Gray of Heton, and the Metrical History of the Brus, by Archdeacon John Barbour. The statements in both of these have been tested by many entries in this volume, the bearing of which attentive readers will not fail to discover for themselves. Barbour abounds in graphic pictures of his hero's career, and of those who served with or against the King of Scots. In these details he is almost always correct, with occasional errors in names. Writing as he did at a long interval of time, about half a century after King Robert's death, the arrangement of his story is often imperfect, the succession of events transposed, and wrong dates given, capable, however, of being corrected by other authority, and detracting little from the real historical value of The Brus. On the other hand, Sir Thomas Gray, who compiled or at least began his chronicle while a prisoner in Edinburgh castle about 1355, was an actor in many of the events which he describes during the reign of Edward III.

Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland: Preserved in Her Majesty's Public Record Office, London. E-book. Formato PDF Joseph Bain   -  Forgotten Books, 2017  - 

This, the second volume of the Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, preserved among the Public Records of England, embraces the entire reign of Edward I., - a period full of events of great importance in the history of the two countries, - beginning with the last years of the peaceful and beneficent reign of Alexander III., and ending while the two nations were engaged, one for conquest and the other for independence, in the arduous struggle which, after many vicissitudes, was to end in firmly seating Robert Bruce on the vacant throne of his ancestors.The reign of Edward I., so far as it relates to Scotland, may be divided into six periods - the last thirteen years of the reign of Alexander III., five of the nominal reign of Margaret of Norway, the two years' Interregnum during the Competition for the Crown, John Balliol's disastrous four years' reign, the second Interregnum of ten years, and lastly, the short period from the coronation of Robert Bruce till the death of Edward I.Beginning then with Alexander III., we shall find that the documents calendared fully bear out the character assigned to him by Lord Hailes: - 'His conduct towards the neighbouring 'kingdom was uniformly candid and wise.