BACK TO SCOTLAND

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 107, 2 November 1937, Page 18

BACK TO SCOTLAND

ANCIENT DOCUMENTS'

/ Anci^ : Scottish; documents that were -V* eu>>. .red by Edward I over six hundred years ago have returned to Scotland; in a brown-paper parcel, says' the,'' Manchester •Guardian/ j They were taken to Edinburgh by Mr. J. R. Atkinson; of the Public Records Office, London, fend- accepted by Mr. William Angus, keeperi of :,th4:.Registers and Records of Sfcotland.

,The documents,; nine :in number, should have been returned after the Treaty -(of .'Northampton; in 1328,; but their transference has only now been secured-by 'the./recent 'pkssage of the Public •". Records (Scotland): Act..

4 Mr.vAtkiiijson.in Ijanding them over, remarked that the records had had a much "better passage than those which > «rm'-B^t^p^by''/Ma*.'in.^l66o'j;.-'and'',pf wHich.;1 about half, were lost,•-.."•,,• Mr. Angus, in accepting custody, expressed appreciation oY the way* in which the strdnglyiexpressed ifesire of the Scottish people had been met.

■ : SMALL DEMONSTRATION. ■'-■ Mss'Wendjr ■ Wood, the v Scottish' Nationalist, and others of similar political persuasion took advantage of the occasion to hold a minor demonstration. The dimohstritbrs; wearing Balmorals or gleiigarr.ies, carried a large white banner* with 'the: words "England■■ disgofges «ome-of the loot, but where is the Stone of Destiny?" As the,records were' being taken up the steps of the Register' House the banner was thrust well forward, obviously to catch the eye of the English emissary.

■'■. .The' most interesting • of the documents is the marriage contract between i Eric,, King of Norway, and Margaret, daughter of King Alexander 111, daM July 25;\ : 1281. ,The others, all bearing dates between 1189 and 1204, i include » charter by King Rfchard I restoring to King William of Scotland the castles of Roxburgh and i Berwick; a charters of Richard I fixing the allowances to be made to Scottish kings visiting the.Court in Eng]and, with .entertainment' arid escort during.'.; the journey; a Papal Bull aflftrmihg the; independence of the Scottish Church frbm any jurisdiction-ekr dept■ thkt of the Pohtifll.or)his legate; a'Bull. forbidding .Scottish•ecclesiastical .ctos^B^tp"itt.'fri(Bd-putsidi6i'.ScQtland'«x/ icept in special cases; a Bull addressed to, the . Scottish "Crusaders providing thst ."redemption 6f= Crusaders'\". vows *hall not ;be prejudged by any grant made by theft King of England; a let■:ttrs patent by- the magnates of Scot land acknowledging Margaret; Princess of Norway, as/heires'sof Scotland faUirig issue of her grandfather and '.his"late..son. ■~-/. "'■;•■:' ';■■'. ' .■"."■". ■.. .j.:- . ;;. ..•"■ ■