500-Year-Old Manuscript Joins the Shelves of the University’s Rare Books Library

The historic St Andrews Chronicles manuscript has found its permanent home on the shelves of the University of St Andrews Rare Books Library.

The St Andrews Chronicles is a hand-written copy of History of Greater Britain by John Mair. The sixteenth-century manuscript is a detailed history of both Scotland and England, and the accompanying hand-copied pamphlet contains new information about key figures and items in earlier Scottish history, such as William Wallace and the Stone of Destiny.

Professor Dauvit Broun — Professor of Scottish History at the University of Glasgow — described the Chronicles as “giv[ing] us access to the way people […] were thinking about the kingdom’s history.” As a hand-written document shared amongst many people, sections of text that could have been added or removed reveal the interests of its various owners and their interactions with history.

Accordingly, Professor Broun described the additional pamphlet as “a personal summary of Scottish history,” explaining that the author of the manuscript removed Mair’s version of the early history of Scotland, replaced it with the pre-existing pamphlet, and clearly “didn’t approve of Mair’s treatment” of the period. Professor Broun also highlighted that “It is very, very rare to have a survival” of such a personal item.

Further emphasising the importance of readership of the manuscript, Elizabeth Henderson — Rare Books Librarian at the University of St Andrews — stated, “The provenance of this manuscript shows that successive sixteenth-century owners, several of whom are not currently known as book owners in any other context, valued these texts, pointing to a wider readership than was previously known.”

“It’s really important that a manuscript like this is held in a public institution like St Andrews where it can be cared for in perpetuity and also where it can be made accessible for research,” she added. “It’s a Scottish manuscript about the history of and origins of Scotland and it’s been through a succession of Scottish owners since the sixteenth century, so there’s a real resonance having it back in a Scottish institution.”

Henderson went on to describe the care taken by the University’s Rare Books Library to safely preserve such a precious document: “The basic essential care for important manuscripts like this includes secure storage, in controlled environmental conditions, with a suitable box to protect it made from conservation-grade materials.”

This is not the first time the manuscript has been connected to the University.

“I am absolutely delighted that the manuscript has come back to Scotland and particularly to a place with which it has real associations,” said Principal and Vice-Chancellor Dame Sally Mapstone. “John Mair taught at our University in the 1520s. The manuscript was also owned during the later sixteenth century by John Lindsay of Balcarres, a notable Fife noble and secretary of state.”

“The manuscript is back in Scotland, where it can be readily displayed, and readily studied by a range of scholars and students,” she added.

The University’s purchase of the Chronicles was generously supported by Dr William Zachs and by the Friends of the Nations’ Libraries. The manuscript has now been digitised and is accessible to wider readership through the University Library collections website. The Chronicles itself will be displayed at the Wardlaw Museum in 2025, offering scholars, students, and the public an opportunity to learn more about Scottish and English history. The manuscript has found a permanent home in a town to which it has always been connected.

Image by The University of St Andrews