The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707 - Essay Example

The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707 This is a legislative document with its source traced to the Parliaments of Scotland as The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707. The creation of the document is easily assigned to Robert, who opens up the document with an introduction of himself through a greeting, cited as “Robert by the grace of God king of Scots.” The document is a medieval document, created in the late 1300s, with a specified date of 1372/10/1. This would be noted as a period in the history of Scotland when the Treaty of Vincennes-Edinburgh had been signed to renew the existing Auld Alliance that had long existed between Scotland and France (Michel, 1862).
Indeed there was a specific message conveyed in the document and this was meant to be conveyed to a specified audience. The generalized essence of the message was to create a ratification of an existing document of fact. In present say, it could be said that the message was a rejoinder to an existing publication as it sought to set the record straight with an existing line of reasoning or belief (Greenhouse, 2005). The existing publication was on the sale and alienation of a suspected earldom to an identified Archibald. The existing line of belief was that Thomas Fleming had sold the earldom to Sir Archibald Douglas and the present writer felt that there was something about this that needed to be corrected. The most immediate audience of the document could therefore be identified to be all people who had had knowledge of the previous document, referred to in this instance as a charter, and all people who would have access to the ratified document that had been created. The writer actually made the course of audience of the document very clear as he stated that “To all who [see or read] this charter, etc.,” (Brown et al, 2007).
The document carries specified information to authenticate the sale of earldom from Thomas Fleming to Sir Archibald de Douglas. Essentially, the writer seeks to clear all forms of doubt that may exist with people that the said sale had not been completed or was fraudulent. The writer there makes it clear that evidence of the transfer of power to Sir Archibald de Douglas still exists and that this is a clear indication that all forms of doubt could be cleared. In regards to the authenticity of the existing evidence therefore, the writer states that “...and sealed by the seal of the said Thomas Fleming, neither cancelled, damaged, erased nor destroyed, and not distrusted in any of its parts” (Brown et al, 2007). Another information that is put across in the document is the terms of agreement that existed between the two parties that created the charter. It was very important for the writer to make the terms of agreement known because it was the only basis by which any reader of the document could judge whether or not Sir Archibald de Douglas was having a rightful possession of power. The writer there emphasises that “Archibald for one fixed and notable sum of money paid to me in my aforesaid great and urgent necessity by hand, concerning which sum I acknowledge has been well and fully paid to me” (Brown et al 2007). 
The source is highly significant in stating a historic and perpetual fact. This was indeed a significant document aimed at clearing all doubts that might live in the minds of people who might have been worried if Sir Archibald de Douglas was a rightful owner of the earldom he possessed. To present day historians, there is no doubt they can count in the source as a highly reliable document, and the content of it as well, as the writer was highly emphatic on proofing that the words written in the document were nothing but the truth. This was done by making various statements including an emphasis that the document was created by him “not lead by force or fear nor by an erroneous lapse, but brought about by my pure and spontaneous desire in a great, urgent and unavoidable necessity” (Brown et al, 2007).
REFERENCE LIST
Greenhouse L. 2005. Lively Debate as Justices Address File Sharing. Accessed January 3, 2012 from http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/30/technology/30bizcourt.html?_r=0
Michel, F.X., 1862. Les Écossais en France, les Français en Écosse II vols. Urban Press: London
The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707_, K.M. Brown et al eds (St Andrews, 2007-2013), date accessed: 13 May 2013 Read More