FORDUN, John, the venerable father of Scotish history, apparently derives his surname from a village in the county of Kincardine, where he is supposed to have been born. He was not, as he has sometimes been represented, a monk, but a secular priest; and in some manuscripts of his history', he is described as a chaplain of the cathedral of Aberdeen; a title which Goodall seems to have considered as equivalent to canon. Bower describes him as a simple man, who had never graduated in the schools. He was engaged in the composition of his work towards the close of the fourteenth century. The first five books, and twenty-three chapters of the sixth book of the Scotichronico, are the composition of Fordun: for the remainder of the work in its present form, we are indebted to Walter Bower, who was born at Haddington in the year 1385, and was unanimously elected abbot of St Colm in the year 1418. This monastery, situated in a small island in the Firth of Forth, belonged to the canons regular of St Augustin. The abbot is sometimes called Bowmaker, which is equivalent in signification to Bower. From 1395 to 1399 John Bowmaker appears as the deputy of the bailies or of the customars of Haddington, at the presentation of their accounts.^[1. Accounts of the Great Chamberlains of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 290. 314. 360. 426. ] As the first of these dates is only ten years subsequent to the abbot’s birth, and as he was a native of that town, this individual might possibly be his father or other relation. At the request of Sir David Stewart of Rossyth,he undertook to transcribe the papers of Fordun; but instead of executing a mere transcript, he inserted large interpolations, and continued the narrative to the death of James the First, having thus extended the work to sixteen books. Of this continuation the principal materials had however been collected by his predecessor. Bower professes to have been careful to distinguish what belonged to each; but as the negligence of subsequent copyists has omitted all his marks, we must chiefly be guided by the internal evidence in adjusting their respective claims. The Latinity of the Scotichronico, though certainly far from being classical, is less barbarous than that of many other [7:9:742]chronicles of the middle ages. Winton, the author of a chronicle in Scotish verse, is perhaps a more judicious writer than either Fordun or Bower, though his share of credulity and superstition is by no means inconsiderable. Beyond this period we have scarcely any records professedly historical, except the Chronicle of Melrose, and a few other fragments, neither considerable for their value nor extent.

It would be endless, as Nicoson has remarked, “to compute into how many several chronicles this of Fordon’s has been multiply’d: for, being in every monastery of the kingdom under the anonymous title of Scoto-chronico, it commonly borrowed a sirname from the place to which it belong’d.”^[2. Nico sou’s scottish Historical Library, p. 92. ] The Black Book of Scone, and the Black Book of Paisley, were copies which obtained no small celebrity, and which seem to have been commonly regarded as two distinct chronicles compiled in those two monasteries. Thus, the Book of Pluscardine was a copy belonging to the priory of that name. Magnus Macculloch and Patrick Russell, who are sometimes mentioned as continuators, were in all probability little more than transcribers of Fordun.

Some portions of the Scotichronico were inserted in the collection of Dr Gale,^[3. ≈ Ħistoriae Britannicae Scriptores XV. vol. i. p. 5¢ä. ] who obtained a defective copy, which he supposed to have belonged to Hector Boyce. In the year 1719, Richard Hay, a canon regular of St Augustin, issued “Proposals for Printing the Chronicle of John Fordun, with the Additions and Continuation of Walter Bowmaker, Abbot of Inch-Colm, containing the memorable things which happened in every year, since our first rise, to King James the First’s death; conform to an authen-tick manuscript, belonging of old to one of our decay’d monasteries: with several notes, for clearing the dark parts of our history.” The manuscript, “a large folio, written in old, but in glorious characters,” belonged to the Cistertian monastery of St Mary at Cupar in Angus: it afterwards came into the possession of Hay, and is now deposited in the Advocates Library. He concludes his Proposals in the following manner: “Many persons of an eminent character have appeared desirous to have it printed, because what copies thereof were carried to England, France, Flanders, Italy, and elsewhere, during the heat of the Reformation, or our late disturbances, are properly lost for us. And what remain in the country, in private hands or in particular libraries, are of no use to the publick, whilst they are shut up, and as if it were hidden in obscure places, where scarce any number of men of an ordinar capacity are allowed access. Therefor I have been willing to publish this manuscript, with several notes, for the greater intelligence of our history, and a large preface, where I shall give an exact account of the fate and fortune of the most part of the others, transcribed by different hands, in former ages, with whom I have compared this original. The charges and expences of publishing this book will be certainly considerable. So those that are pleased to further and incourage this enterprize, are desired to pay ten shillings sterling at subscribing, and as much at the delivery of the printed copy, which will prove a good folio, on fine paper, and in good caracters, and will consist of 160 sheet and above. Their names and designations shall be insert in the front, and their respective houses or families shall be kindly remembered in the notes. As to the subscriptions, they are to be taken by the author, at his lodging in Howison’s Land in the Potterraw; by Mr John Mackenzie of Delvin, at his lodging in the Parliament Close; by Mr Henry Massie, merchant, near the foot of Blackfriar-Wynd; by Mr William Adams, printer, over against the Trone-Church; by Mr Ruddiman in the Advocates Library; who shall deliver to the persons concerned the author’s obligation to have the compleat copy remitted to them about the end of the following year, 1720, they paying ten shillings more at the time appointed.” This plan was never carried into execution; but a valuable edition was soon afterwards published by Hearne, under the title of “Johannis de Fordun Scotichronico genuinum, una cum ejusdem Supplemento ac Continuatione.” Oxon. 1722, 5 tom. 8vo. The editor proceeds upon the plan of separating the interpolations of Bower from the text of Fordun. After an interval of nearly forty years, another edition was published by Walter Goodall, assistant-keeper of the Advocates Library: “Joannie de Fordun Scotichronico, cum Supplementis et Continuatione Walteri Boweri, Insulae Sancti Columbae Abbatis.” Edinb. 1759, 2 tom. fol. Goodall chiefly adheres to an excellent manuscript, written on vellum, and preserved in the library of the university of Edinburgh. (x.)