The Buik of the Croniclis of Scotland; or, A Metrical Version of the History of Hector Boece

Hector Boece (c.1465-1536) was a Scottish humanist historian, educated in Dundee and Paris, where he became a friend of Erasmus. His Latin Scotorum historia, covering the period from 330 BCE until 1437, was published in 1527, and rapidly translated into French and Scots. It was continued by several authors, indicating that it was accepted as a definitive account of the formation of Scottish national identity, though, inevitably, many of the earlier parts rely on legend and tradition rather than on historical sources. Dedicated to James V, it is biased in favour of his ancestors, and, via Holinshed, was the source for Shakespeare's Macbeth. This verse translation was completed for James V by the courtier William Stewart in 1535, but not published until the Rolls Series edition by W. B. Turnbull in 1858. Volume 1 contains Books I-VI and covers wars with the Romans and Irish migration to Scotland.