Exclusive:Manuscript shedding new light on William Wallace and Wars of Independence made public for first time

A handwritten 500-year-old manuscript that sheds new light on the Scottish Wars of Independence, William Wallace and the Stone of Destiny has been secured for the nation.

A handwritten manuscript shedding new light on Scottish history has been acquired by St Andrews University. | Supplied

The "home-made pamphlet," has been snapped up at auction by St Andrews University after being held in a private collection in Norway for 34 years.

A handwritten manuscript shedding new light on Scottish history has been acquired by St Andrews University. | Supplied

The manuscript, which has been hailed by the university as "one of the most important histories of Scotland", is now available to the public for the first time.

The significance of the manuscript, which chronicles key events in Scotland up to the Wars of Independence in the 13th and 14th centuries, was not known about until recent research was carried out on it by a leading Glasgow University historian.

A handwritten 500-year-old manuscript shedding new light on Scottish history has been acquired by St Andrews University. | Supplied

Professor Dauvit Broun, an expert on medieval Scottish history, said he had "stumbled on a hitherto unknown text on the first War of Independence".

His key findings included an exact date for the killing of the English soldier and Sheriff of Lanark, William Heselrig, and evidence that Wallace was not the role leader of the uprising against King Edward in 1297.

Prof Broun said the Scottish knight Richard of Lundie appeared to have been a "close ally" of Wallace, but had his involvement written out of Scotland's history books because he had decided to switch sides and fight against the Scots.

The manuscript is believed to date back to around 1510 and its first listed owner was Robert Robertoun, a chaplain of Edinburgh.

However, it is believed to have strong links to St Andrews as the pamphlet was kept inside a handwritten copy of the 16th-century book History of Greater Britain, by historian John Mair, who worked at the university from 1533.

Some of the other names listed as previous owners of the book may also have been students at the university, while at one point it was owned by John Lindsay, a former Secretary of State for Scotland, who lived in Balcarres, near St Andrews.

The manuscript was sold in 1990 by a bookseller from Bangor, in Northern Ireland, and was bought at auction by Norwegian collector Martin Schoyen.

It came up for auction in London earlier this year with a valuation of £277,000, with Christie's describing it as "a unique contemporary addition to the historical narrative for the first War of Scottish Independence and the sole surviving source for new details of William Wallace’s 1297 uprising".

Elizabeth Henderson, rare books librarian at the university, said: "It’s really important that a manuscript like this is held in a public institution like in St Andrews where it can be cared for in perpetuity and where it can be made accessible for research.

“It’s a Scottish manuscript about the history of and origins of Scotland. It’s been through a succession of Scottish owners since the 16th century, so there’s a real resonance having it back in a Scottish institution."

The manuscript has been fully digitised so that it can be now be viewed online for the first time.

Sean Rippington, head of archives and rare books at the university, said: "The digital version opens it up to new forms of investigation and research. We wanted to give democratic access for people to see and connect with it. It’s for being read and researched, not for being observed from afar.

‘The university is its permanent home. It has been in private ownership for its entire existence, meaning relatively few people have seen it, so we are keen to make it available to the wider population as far as possible.”