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Papers of and collected by James Dennistoun (including some printed items), together with some correspondence mostly relating to the Scots monasteries at Würzburg and Ratisbon, being materials towards a projected book by Dennistoun on the Scots monasteries in Germany and elsewhere on the Continent (cf. folio 408)., ?1650-1839.

 File
Identifier: Adv.MS.19.2.25

Scope and Contents

The more substantial items include:

(i) a copy in the hand of Friar Alan Chisholm of a version brought up to date in 1687 of `Indiculus Monasteriorum Scotorum S. Benedicti Extra Scotiam` by James Brown (see `"Germania Sancta": a seventeenth-century trilogy`, pages 118-140) (folio 1).

(ii) two engravings depicting the Scottish Benedictine monastery of St James, Ratisbon, followed by notes by Dennistoun on the library, the funerary monuments, extracts from the necrology, a translation of a history of the monastery and various other items, including a list of the abbots of Würzburg (folio 64); several of the leaves are blank.

(iii) a letter, 1837, of Angus (Friar Bernard) McDonald to Dennistoun, forwarding extracts from the ‘Protocollum’ of the monastery, containing the deeds and privileges; the original is now KL Regensburg-St Jakob, in the Munich Hauptstaatsarchiv (folio 147).

(iv) notes by Dennistoun, 1838, concerning the Scots College, Paris (folio 181) (partly printed in ‘The Blairs Papers’, pages 11-12) the Scots College, Rome (folio 184) and the English College, Rome (folio 188).

(v) Dennistoun`s transcript of Adv.MS.34.6.1, a volume entitled `Ratisbona religiosa` which was wrongly attributed to Robert (Friar Boniface) Strachan, but which was an excerpt from volume iv of `Ratisbona dioecesis illustrata`, a work in seven volumes written about 1660 by Eberhard Wasserborn, chancellor of the diocese (see `Two Ratisbon Manuscripts in the National Library of Scotland`, pages 24-29) (folio 202).

(vi) a copy in the hand of Alan Chisholm (apparently the only one known) of `Chronologia Beatæ Mariæ semper Virginis, et Sancti Gregorij Scotorum Viennæ; seu Apologia Adversus Germanorum Manifestum` by James Brown, circa 1650 (see ‘The Scots in Franconia’, page 245) (folio 265).

(vii) a copy in the hand of Alan Chisholm of a work entitled `Vita Pientissimi Viri Macharij Abbatis Mon(aste)rij S(anc)ti Jacobi Scotorum Herbipoli ex Abbate Trithemio Mon(aste)rij MS aliisq(ue) probatis Authoribus excerpta` written by a number of (including some Scottish) monks (folio 315).

(viii) one of four known copies of the agreement drawn up in 1660 between the monks of the Scots Benedictine monastery of St James, Würzburg, and the English Benedictine Congregation (folio 326), edited by Mark Dilworth, as `The Wurzburg Scots and the English Congregation`.

(ix) transcripts in the hand of Thomas (Friar Placid) Fleming of part of the `Index monasteriorum Scotorum extra Scotiam’ of James Brown, which is a revised version of his `Indiculus` (cf. (i) supra) (folio 328). The first five leaves are out of sequence and should be read in the following order: folios 331 verso, 331 recto, 330 recto and verso, 329 recto and verso, 332 recto and verso, 328 recto and verso, corresponding to folio 2 verso line 6 to folio 13 recto line 6 supra (see `Two Ratisbon Manuscripts in the National Library of Scotland`, pages 29-32).

(x) notes by Dennistoun on Adv.MS.34.6.1 (folio 373), notes and extracts of the second draft of `Perspicilium ad res Scotorum intelligendas` by James Brown, now Edinburgh University Library, MS Laing III, 1 (folio 374), and on Adv.MS.33.7.20 (folio 376); and various notes on the Scottish Benedictine monasteries in Germany (folio 378) including a plan of the projected work (folio 408).

Also bound in are printed works of and concerning various monks at Ratisbon and Würzburg, 1752-1839 (folios 344-372, 413-418).

Dates

  • Creation: ?1650-1839.

Extent

0.00 Linear metres (420 folios. Folio and under.)

Language of Materials

From the Series: English

Existence and Location of Originals

Adv.MS.34.6.1: Account of the Scots Benedictine abbey at Ratisbon.

Related Materials

Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv München, KL Regensburg-St. Jakob.

Edinburgh University Library, MS Laing III, 1.

Adv.MS.33.7.20: Germania Christiana.

Bibliography

Dilworth, Mark. `"Germania Sancta": a seventeenth-century trilogy`, in ‘Innes Review’, xviii (1967).

Hay, Malcolm V. ‘Blairs Papers’ (1929).

Dilworth, Mark. `Two Ratisbon Manuscripts in the National Library of Scotland`, in ‘Bibliotheck’, volume v (1967).

Dilworth, Mark. ‘The Scots in Franconia’ (1974).

`Wurzburg Scots and the English Congregation`, edited by Mark Dilworth, in ‘Downside Review’, volume 85 (1967), pages 39-61.

Repository Details

Part of the National Library of Scotland Archives and Manuscripts Division Repository

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