Registrum magni sigilli (vol. 1)

Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum : The register of the Great seal of Scotland, A.D. 1306-1668. vol. 1 (New ed.).
Book edited by John Maitland Thomson Edinburgh : H.M. General Register House, 1912, 1st pub. 1814

Volume set	The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland (vol. 1)
Edition of	The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland (New ed.)
Online libraries
Google Books	ZLFCAAAAYAAJ free ebook
HathiTrust	007703273
Website links
Handle System	2027/njp.32101038096846 free
ID numbers to locate books in libraries, archives or databases
WorldCat	674363124

Discussion

The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland is often cited in Scottish sources as RMS, an abbreviation of the Latin Registrum magni sigilli regum Scotorum.

It is published in 11 volumes, covering 1306 - 1668.

vol. 1	1306-1424
vol. 2	1424-1513
vol. 3	1513-1546
vol. 4	1546-1580
vol. 5	1580-1593
vol. 6	1593-1608
vol. 7	1609-1620
vol. 8	1620-1633
vol. 9	1634-1651
vol. 10	1652-1659
vol. 11	1660-1668

Copies of the original documents can be ordered through the National Records of Scotland.

References to the medieval register itself

These are the actual Great Seal register citations.

Examples:

• RMS, L. i fol. 26
• RMS, L. i fol. 162

Meaning:

• L. = Liber (book of the register)
• i = Book 1
• fol. = folio (page of the manuscript)

So:

RMS, L. i fol. 26 = Book 1 of the Great Seal register, folio 26.

These are the closest you get to the medieval register itself.

References to the original charter enrolments

Examples:

• RMS, R. ii fol. 10
• RMS, R. v fol. 64

Here R means Register of charters enrolled rather than the book copies used earlier.

So these are:

Later medieval register volumes in which the charter is recorded.

References to manuscripts used by Thomson

Haddington MS

Examples:

• Haddington MS, p. 47; numbered 45
• Haddington MS, p. 50

These refer to the Haddington Manuscript, an early modern transcript of the Great Seal register.

Purpose:

• The original medieval register volumes were partially lost or damaged.
• Antiquaries copied them earlier.
• Thomson sometimes relied on those copies.

So these entries mean:

The charter survives in the Haddington transcript, not necessarily in the surviving medieval register.

Register House Calendar

Example:

• Register House Calendar No. 81

This refers to an archival calendar created in the Register House (Edinburgh) before Thomson’s edition.

It usually means:

The charter was known from a pre-publication archive summary rather than a surviving register folio.

References to other charter collections

Example:

• Suther., no. 20

This is a citation to:

The Sutherland Book (William Fraser, 1892)

which prints charters relating to the earls of Sutherland.

Thomson often referenced external printed charter collections when they preserved related material.

Documents

• Scottish document RMS, L. i fol. 162
• Scottish document RMS, L. i fol. 202
• Scottish document RMS, L. i fol. 215
• Scottish document RMS, L. i fol. 243
• Scottish document RMS, L. i fol. 255
• Scottish document RMS, L. i fol. 258
• Scottish document RMS, L. i fol. 26
• Scottish document RMS, R. ii fol. 10

Citing source

To cite this source in an article, use {{sfn|Thomson|1912|p=[]}} in the body of the article. In the {{sfn}} template, include the page number linked to the page in the online source.

Then add to the sources list in the 'Sources' section:

* {{Reg mag sig full|volume=1|edition=New}}

{{Reg mag sig full}} will assign this book to Has source on any page that references it.

Sources

• Thomson, John Maitland, ed. (1912) [1st pub. 1814]. Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum : The register of the Great seal of Scotland, A.D. 1306-1668. 1 (New ed.). Edinburgh: H.M. General Register House. hdl:2027/njp.32101038096846. OCLC 674363124. Google ZLFCAAAAYAAJ.