Scottish
Annals from English Chronicler?, a.d. 500 to 1286. By Alan
O. Anderson, M.A. Edinb. Pp. xiii, 403. 8vo. London : David
Nutt. 1908. 10s. 6d. nett.
However we
may regard the fact, it is not to be forgotten that our
national history till the close of the thirteenth century
would be all but a blank page but for the existence of
extraneous sources. It is to Tacitus and other Roman writers
that we owe such information as we possess regarding the
beginnings of Scotland as a separate territory on the
world’s map. It is from Adamnan and the Irish annalists that
we know of the process by which the different peoples in
North Britain became united under a single ruler. To these
foreign sources must be added another, without which the
history of Scotland from the reign of Malcolm Cranmore till
the death of Alexander III. in 1286 could hardly be written.
It is in the incidental references of English chroniclers to
the northern kingdom that we have the fullest account of the
most important Scottish events of that period; and it is
only with the 'general aid of these chroniclers that a
continuous narrative is possible. We have but to glance at
the authorises for the period quoted by such writers as E.
W. Robertson, Skene, and Lord Hailes in his Annals of
Scotland to realise the extent of their debt to these
English sources.
In view of
these facts Mr. Anderson’s book can hardly fail to be
received as one of the most important contributions that
have been made to Scottish history during recent years. For
the first time he has brought together, in the compass of
one volume, all or nearly all the materials supplied by
English chroniclers for the history of Scotland from 500 a.d.
till 1286. The task was not a light one. Mr. Anderson has
made translations from more than forty writers, whose
medieval Latin is frequently as difficult to understand as
it is difficult to render in equivalent and intelligible
English. Moreover, the relevant passages had to be selected,
texts collated, and contradictory statements illustrated
from tne different chroniclers who have recorded the same
events. Of the thoroughness with which Mr. Anderson has done
his work every page of his book bears evidence. The
introductory Table of Reference is German in its
Grundlichktit, and the same may be said of the appended
notes, which are more voluminous than the text.
From the
nature of Mr. Anderson’s work it can hardly as a whole
appeal to the general reader, but for the serious student of
Scottish history its interest and instructiveness are
apparent. He has here the chief materials out of which the
history of the period has to be constructed, and from which
he can receive his own direct impression of the events that
are recorded. Many of the excerpts merely state briefly that
an event occurred, but others record at considerable length
all the circumstances that occasioned it. Such, for example,
are certain passages from Bede, Alfred of Rievaulx, and
Matthew Paris, where incidents and characters are presented
with a vividness which the modem historian cannot reproduce.
In view of the increasing interest in our national history,
indeed, selection of such passages might form a school
text-book which would possess an educational value that
would go far to stimulate an interest in historical studies
in Scotland. Except for a few later periods we have no such
books, composed from contemporary records, as are available
in other countries. If Mr. Anderson’s book could be utilised
for this purpose, his countrymen would owe him an added
debt. And there is another work which, as we gather from his
book, he has the necessary equipment to undertake. He is a
Celtic scholar and a practised transcriber of Celtic MSS.;
could he not do for Celtic records what he has done so
admirably for the English chroniclers?
P. Hume Brown.
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