| LOCATION | London, BL |
| MANUSCRIPT | London, BL, Cotton Caligula C. iii |
| ITEM No. 1 | Historia Scotiae |
Historia Scotiae : material for its study
Historia Scotiae: material for its study .
I have checked this volume because a note in MS Edinburgh, Signet L, 106:66 appeared to refer to legal literature possibly contained in this MS. It turned out, however, that the contents do not correspond to the description in the Edinburgh MS. In particular, I did not find the material about the feud and litigation between the clans Gordon and Forbes, asserted to be contained on fol. 21 ss. of the present MS.
The present MS starts with a diary 'Commentaria diurna Joannis Leslie episcopi Rossensis, legati ... Marie Scotorum regine in Anglia', starting 1571/4/11. Thereafter follows a very numerous collection of original letters and copies of letters, all bound together. Samples:
(Fol. 242) Letter by Queen Elizabeth of England, ordering certain prisoners 'to be putt to the rack, and to the task therof until they shall deale more playnly ...'.
(Fol. 244 ss) Several letters in handwriting of Mary Queen of Scots, prisoner in England, to Queen Elizabeth of England, in French.
(Fol. 382) Letter to Queen Mary with four lines of encrypted writing, and decoded text written above them. The encrypted writing contains symbols in place of letters or entire words.
(Fol. 410) Letter with 22 lines of encrypted writing, and deciphered text written underneath the lines
No. of pages: (item 1)