Series 3 > Miscellany of the Scottish History Society (Sixth volume)

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however, interest attached mainly to the second class—docu¬
ments touching the freedom of Scotland which, in 1327, were
in the possession of the King of England. Any document
touched the freedom of Scotland which proved, or went to
prove, the existence of Scotland as an independent kingdom.
There were many such among the national records of Scotland
which were in the possession of Edward III at the date of
the Treaty. It was possible to form some idea of what those
documents were from an inventory included among the ten
items now restored to Scottish keeping. This inventory bore
to have been drawn up in 1282 by the Treasury Clerks of
Alexander III. This was the year after the death of Alex¬
ander’s youngest son David, ‘ the beginning,’ as Fordun said,
‘ of Scotland’s sorrows to come.’ The documents enumerated
in the inventory were then preserved in the Royal Treasury
in the Castle of Edinburgh, and some of them went as far
back as the time of William the Lion. All had disappeared
from Scotland long before 1327. What had become of them ?
A great many things had happened between 1282 and 1327.
In 1291 Edward I of England found himself in the position
of an arbiter called in to dispose of the kingdom of Scotland
to his selected nominee. He began the proceedings by issuing
a commission to three persons to examine the documents
preserved in the Castle of Edinburgh, or elsewhere in Scotland,
which might be found to bear on the succession to the Scottish
crown, or on his own rights in reference to Scotland.
This writ was addressed to the Governor of the Castle of
Edinburgh, the Bishop of St. Andrews, and the Keeper of the
Rolls. These were the officers responsible for the custody of
the records in the Castle. The Commissioners lost no time
in obtaining access to the Treasury, and collected a number
of documents which they enumerated in a new inventory dated
12th August 1291. This inventory was still extant. It by no