2 - A New Perspective on John of Fordun’s Chronica Gentis Scotorum as a Medieval ‘National History’

Summary

ONE of the many fundamental contributions by Roger Mason to scholarship is his pioneering research on Latin histories of the kingdom as a source for insights into the nature of Scottish political culture. As a result, he has revealed patterns of political thought that bring us closer to the views and assumptions of the kingdom's elite than would be possible by focusing exclusively on more intellectual works of political theory. In the process he has shaped our understanding of the most important historical texts in Latin in ways that are likely to endure for as long as these works are read or their reception studied, from John of Fordun writing in the mid-1380s to George Buchanan two centuries later. This chapter will not attempt to discuss the substance of any of these histories. Instead, it will ask what might be learnt about the genre of medieval ‘national’ histories – as this is generally understood by historians – by looking beyond print editions to extant manuscripts.

Medieval ‘National’ Histories

Although John of Fordun was not the first to write a history of the kingdom from its origins, his Chronica Gentis Scotorum is the earliest to survive intact. It appears in Norbert Kersken's monumental study, published in 1995, of what he described as ‘works of long-term history, providing an overview of the “national” past from the very beginnings to the time of their writing’. Kersken argued that these texts – which he referred to as ‘national histories’ – began ‘almost simultaneously’ to be written across much of Europe in the first quarter of the twelfth century. He showed that, by the end of the thirteenth century, it was rare for a kingdom not to have been provided by one of its literati with an extensive written account of its past from its origins to within living memory.

Kersken's outstanding achievement in identifying and describing each of these works across most of Europe in the Middle Ages was only feasible by researching them as printed editions, rather than by trying to deal with a myriad of manuscripts. He was aware of the significance of these texts as editions, taking care to note when they were first printed, as well as basing his work on the most recent publications.