Shows
The COTR PodcastE10: The charters of King Edward BalliolMatthew Hammond explains the oft-forgotten story of Edward Balliol, erstwhile king of Scots, whose successful assertion of his kingship prompted the 'second war of independence'.
For more, see www.cotr.ac.uk/blog/scotlands-forgotten-king
2020-06-3018 min
The COTR PodcastE9: Arbroath and its abbeyMatthew Hammond tells us about Arbroath, the place associated with the 'Declaration'. Why was Arbroath important to Robert I and how did the 1320 letter come to be dated there?
For more on the Arbroath historical pageant, see www.historicalpageants.ac.uk
2020-06-2116 min
The COTR PodcastE8: The Absolution of Robert I, 1310John Reuben Davies takes us through the document containing the absolution of Robert Bruce, issued in 1310, following Robert's murder of John Comyn in 1306.
For John's translation of the earliest surviving copy (in Dublin, Trinity College, MS 498) click here.
2020-01-2009 min
The COTR PodcastE7: The Schøyen ChronicleDauvit Broun takes us through the Schøyen Chronicle, a sixteenth-century manuscript containing a year-by-year chronicle covering 1297 and 1327, preserving new information about William Wallace and the appointment of seven (yes, you read that right) Guardians of the kingdom.
You can find MS 679 here
2020-01-0718 min
The COTR PodcastE6: The charters of Robert IMatthew Hammond introduces the corpus of Robert I's charters, explaining what they can (and can't) tell us about his reign.
NLS, Charter no. 242 (Robert confirms a quitclaim of land in Angus, saving his service, issued in 1322)
Image (c) National Library of Scotland and reproduced with permission
2019-11-1014 min
The COTR PodcastE5: The 1318 legislationAlice Taylor takes us through the earliest piece of legislation to have survived from the parliament of Scone, issued at Scone in December 1318.
For a translation of the 1318 legislation, visit: http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/1318
Image (NLS, MS 34.4.2: Registrum Vetus of Arbroath Abbey)
2019-10-2814 minThe COTR PodcastE4: The Irish RemonstranceSteve Boardman takes us through the fascinating Irish Remonstrance, supposedly written by the king of Ulster in support of Edward Bruce's short-lived kingship of Ireland (and in defence of his campaigns in Ireland), and preserved within two histories of the Scots.
2019-10-1411 minThe COTR PodcastBONUS EPISODE: The Declaration of Arbroath - Pluscarden versionsDauvit Broun introduces the fascinating 'Book of Pluscarden', completed in 1461, whose unknown author included TWO copies of the Declaration of Arbroath and rewrote them in different ways. What did he change and why might he have done so?
For the 'teaser' of the project's dynamic edition, which will show how the Declaration has been rewritten over time, see https://cotr.ac.uk/dynamic-arbroath/
2019-10-0708 min
The COTR PodcastE3: Regiam MaiestatemAlice Taylor introduces us to the mysterious 'Regiam Maiestatem', the book of (supposedly) Scottish law (probably) compiled in Robert's reign which, by 1426, had become one of the main books of 'ancient law' in the kingdom. Join us to find out more about the mystery!
Episode artwork: Initial 'R' from the Regiam Maiestatem in the Bute manuscript, National Library of Scotland, MS 21246, fo. 27r.
2019-09-3012 min
The COTR PodcastE2: Barbour's BruceSteve Boardman takes us through Barbour's Bruce, the epic poem written generations after Bruce's death, and starting point for all later discussion of who Bruce and why he did what he did.
The image is from a 14th-century MS from a treatise of the Seven Vices from Genoa, now British Library, Additional MS 28841, f. 6r. Because of the spider!
2019-09-1618 min
The COTR PodcastE1: The Declaration of ArbroathDauvit Broun takes us through the letter written by the Scottish 'community of the realm' to Pope John XXII in 1320, explaining how, why and when it became incorporated into the later medieval history of the Scots.
For the Declaration at the NRS: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/learning/features/the-declaration-of-arbroath
2019-08-1315 min