Arbroath Abbey Books 1288-c1563
The Arbroath Regality Registers, commonly referred to as the Arbroath Abbey Books, are three volumes in which the monks of Arbroath Abbey made copies of all of their legal documents in the years leading up to the Reformation. The books are written in latin on vellum pages. The red leather binding we see today is of a more recent origin. The books were never completed, indicated by the visibility of the guidelines and the use of only red for the decorative letters. It was long thought that only 3 volumes were made but a fourth one has turned up in the British Museum. It is now available in the Angus Archives on microfilm.
The first volume of the Registers contain early writs from the reign of Robert I onwards, totalling 195 documents from 1288 to 1500. The second volume commences in 1503, when George Hepburn was appointed Abbot of Arbroath Abbey, and contains all the Abbey's writs during his tenure. The third volume spans the tenure of abbots James Beaton, appointed in 1518, and David Beaton, appointed in 1524.
After the Reformation the Abbey fell into decline and for the next three centuries provided the inhabitants of Arbroath with a useful stone quarry. The history of the registers is unclear but they did re-emerge in 1748. The registers had remained in existence as the legal documents of the Regality of Arbroath. By the mid eighteenth century the Regality Clerk was John Smith of Bathary and his son James Smith, both Writers to the Signet. In 1748 the Smith's presented the volumes to John Maule, brother of the Earl of Panmure. In December 1822 the Honourable William Maule donated the Registers to the Town of Arbroath from where they eventually passed into the keeping of the Angus Local Study Centre in 1989.
The Arbroath Abbey Books are available at A3 in the Arbroath Town Council records collection.
© Angus Council 1998 - 2008