A window into 14th-century society

ince the Reformation, relations between most of Scotland and theVatican have been chilly, at best. This has been unfortunate for many reasons, but particularly for the understanding of Scottish medieval history. It was only in 1961-62 that the future Monsignor Charles Burns, a scholarly-minded young Scottish priest, began to systematically study papal letter-books and registers in theVatican archives for spotlighted here. Their historical context, however, requires some explanation.