Royal MS 13 B II

REGISTER of letters of James IV and James V of Scotland, written in Latin on their behalf to popes, foreign princes, and others; 1505-1524. Some letters written for James Beaton, Archbishop of Glasgow, Chancellor of Scotland, John Stuart, Duke of Albany, Regent, and others are also included. From 1504 to 1518 (ff. i-ii8) the letters were written by Patrick Paniter or Panter, Principal Secretary to King James IV and the Regent Albany; ff. 119-124 b contain letters written by Laurence Taillefer (or Telfer) for Paniter during the latter's absence in Paris; on f. 125 is a note of Paniter's death, and from 6 March, 1519[20], Taillefer's name stands alone. The total number of letters is 326 (numbered to 329, but the numbers 268-270 are wanting), of which 206 were printed by T. Ruddiman (from two copies in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh) in Epistolae Iacobi Quarti, Iacobi Quinti et Marie, Regum Scotorum, Edinburgh, 1722, i, and 44 by J. Gairdner (who used this MS.) in Letters and Papers illustrative of the reigns of Richard III and Henry VII, Rolls Ser., 1863, ii. Many of the letters between 1509 and 1524 are calendared by J. S. Brewer in Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, i-iv.

The fly-leaf at the end (f. i) is from a commentary on Proverbs (xix. 21-xxi. 1), of the 13th cent.

Paper ; ff. 139 + i. 10³/₄ in. x 7³/₄ in. XVI cent. Ship seal on f. 2; not in cat. of 1666; CMA. 8678.