For the first time precious examples from two of Scotland’s most important collections of medieval charters were on show in National Records of Scotland.
The charters from Holyrood Abbey and Melrose Abbey reveal how government developed in the period between 1100 and 1250, part of the emergence in Western Europe of government as we recognise it today. This exhibition investigated how changes in the handwriting of royal and monastic scribes reflect these crucial changes in charters that granted lands and rights.
This exhibition was a partnership with the University of Glasgow and is part of Models of Authority, Scottish Charters and the Emergence of Government, 1100-1250, a project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. You can read more about this project and its findings at www.modelsofauthority.ac.uk
