An important miscellany compiled largely by Edinburgh notary John Asloan (or Sloan). It includes works by the Scottish Renaissance poets Dunbar and Henryson, and also the 'Auchinleck Chronicle' - a short account of the reign of James II. This is almost the only surviving chronicle source for James's life and times, and is here shown at an account of how James II murdered the Earl of Douglas - personally.
In 1452 James II invited William, 8th Earl of Douglas, to supper in Stirling Castle to persuade him to break off an alliance he had made with some other disaffected nobles. What followed was another Scottish 'Black Dinner'.
'Than the king said fals tratour sen [if] yow will nocht [i.e. not break your bond] I sall and stert sodanly till him with ane knyf and straik him in at the colere [collar] and down in the body and thai sayd that patrik gray straik him nixt the king with ane poll ax on the hed and strak out his harnes [brains] and syne the gentillis [nobles] that war' with the king gaf thaim ilkane a straik or twa with knyffis'
MS. 16500
160mm
