Spottiswoode Society > History of the affairs of the Church and State of Scotland from the beginning of the reformation to the year 1568 > Volume 1

RIGHT REVEREND BISHOP KEITH. lxiii
to stand good and valid.'' , The Records of the Conventions
of Estates held in 1643 and 1644 are preserved ; but those
of all that were called Parliaments in Scotland from 1644
till the subjugation of the kingdom by Cromwell in 1651,
and the suppression of its Legislature, have not been found,
and their history and fate are obscure and doubtful. " The
subsequent fate of these Kecords," observes Mr Thomson,
" is altogether uncertain. There are some grounds for be-
lieving that they may have been lost at sea on their return
to Scotland at the Eestoration, and some reasons for sup-
posing that they may have been afterwards intentionally
destroyed ; but thus much at least may be presumed, that,
if they escaped these various hazards, they would be but
little cared for after their legal validity and value had been
impaired, and in a great measure done away, by the rescind-
ing Acts of Parliament of 1661 ." Though a great propor-
tion of the Acts and proceedings of those illegal Parliaments
are irrecoverably lost, important fragments and documents
nevertheless remain.
From the preceding statements it appears that the Records
of the Statutes of several Parliaments from the reign of
James III. to Queen Mary are lost, and can only be sup-
plied from the edition of 1566, with some manuscripts still
existing, and other written copies of a later date. The
original Records of Queen Mary's Parliaments are defective,
and from June 1548 to the end of that Reign are, as already
observed, entirely lost, with the exception of the Parliament
in November 1558, and of another in April 1567. The
" History of the Affairs of Church and State in Scotland "
by Bishop Keith extends from 1527-8 to 1568.
It is almost unnecessary to allude to Edward I. of Eng-
land, who, after being chosen to decide on the claims of the
different competitors for the Crown of Scotland, issued a
writ directed to William Fraser, Bishop of St Andrews,
Ralph Basset of Drayton, Constable of the Castle of Edin-
burgh, and William of Dumfries, Clerk-Register for Scot-
land, commanding them to deliver to the Abbots of Dunferm-
line and Holyrood, and certain other persons therein named,