Walter Bower (1383-1437) - Historian
He was born in Haddington and educated at Paris
and St Andrews before being appointed Abbot of the island of Inchcolm in the Firth of Forth
in 1418. In 1424 he was one of the commissioners appointed to raise the ransom for the
release of James I. He continued what is now known as the scotichronicon by expanding
on the Chronica gentis Scotorum of John Of Fordun, extending the history from 1383 to
1437. Like John he had access to documents and other materials which have since been lost and the Scotichronicon has become one of the most important source books for Scottish historians. Several manuscript copies were made but it was not published in its entirety until 1759.
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