Chronica Gentis Scotorum
The Chronica Gentis Scotorum or Chronicles of the Scottish People was the first substantial work of Scottish history. It was written by John of Fordun, a priest of the diocese of St. Andrews and chaplain of the church of Aberdeen. Before his death, he had finished the first five books down to the reign of David I (1124–53) and had arranged his remaining materials, the last of which was dated 1385. Continuations. Andrew of Wyntoun, a canon regular of St Andrews and prior to the St Serf's Inch Priory in Loch Leven, wrote a chronicle of  Scotland between 1420 and 1424, but his work shows no familiarity with Fordun’s. However, in 1441, Walter Bower (or Bowmaker), abbot of Inchcolm, continued Fordun’s history to the year 1437, adding material to the death of James I (1437), incorporating additional material, and entitling his work the Scotichronicon. Copies were preserved in leading religious houses by whose names the manuscripts are known, including the Book of Paisley, the Book of Scone, the Book of Cupar, and the Chronicle of Icolmkill. Though the names of Patrick Russell, a Carthusian monk of the monastery of Charterhouse in Perth, and Magnus  MacCulloch, secretary to the archbishop of St Andrews, are attached to some of these copies, they remain in essence Walter Bower’s compilations. Key features of the chronicle. According to historian William F. Skene, the key features of Fordun’s history of early Scotland include the following: