The Bannatyne Club and the Publication of Scottish Ecclesiastical Cartularies

Abstract

Over 90% of the printed Scottish cartularies were published by antiquarian groups like the Bannatyne, Maitland and Spalding Clubs between 1832 and 1893 and no substantive work on these editions has occurred since that time. They are now both commonly treated and used as primary sources in their own right. Using the Moray register as a stark example, it is argued that the editorial team involved in its production radically re-ordered and re-worked much of the source material to fit the editorial conventions of the time.