Abbott, Donald M.

2018-01-31T11:21:39Z

2018-01-31T11:21:39Z

1977

The thesis attempts to examine the author's aims and methods and assess the Rerum Scoticarum Historia as a whole. The controversial relationship between Buchanan and Yary Queen of Scots is discussed. After information on Buchanan's career, the intellectual background of the sixteenth century and the work of his predecessors Major and Boece, consideration is given to the various editions and one manuscript of the Historia and to the eighteenth-century dispute over the state of the text. A summary of textual differences is contained in an appendix. The evidence concerning exactly when the Historia was written and what was the author's conception of his task is reviewed. In the subsequent account of the content of the work, starting from the anthropology and geography of the first two books, special attention is paid to the use of sources, passages which^the method of working and personal comments by the author. There follows discussion of the tradition of Roman historiography, of the nature and extent of its influence on Buchanan and of difficulties in assessing style. The final chapter reviews Buchanan's attitude to kingship as revealed in the Historia and notes some contrasting estimates of the work. In view of sixteenth-century beliefs about history, the conclusion is proposed that the Histcria was a serious piece of historical work and that, although at times openly prejudiced, it represented an advance in historiography in that, by comparison with the more rhetorical approach of Boece, it showed closer interest in understanding the real causes behind events.

http://hdl.handle.net/1842/26623

The University of Edinburgh

Annexe Thesis Digitisation Project 2017 Block 15

George Buchanan's Rerum Scoticarum Historia

Thesis or Dissertation

Doctoral

PhD Doctor of Philosophy