The Breadalbane Collection

The Breadalbane Collection, an eclectic gathering of 16th century documents of the Campbells of Glenorchy.

  • These 324 letters were recently discovered within the extensive correspondence in the Breadalbane Collection, now housed in the National Archives of Scotland (NAS).
  • The original Breadalbane Letters are found in NAS GD112/39 Bundles 1 to 14 and part of Bundle 15. The earliest letter is dated 1548 and the transcriptions end in 1583 with the death of Grey Colin.
  • With some originals having suffered damage, parts of the letters are illegible, though some damaged passages have been reconstituted from the notes in the MacGregor Collection (NAS GD50).
  • This collection, edited by Professor Jane Dawson, provides unique insight into Scottish life during the early modern period.
  • A selection of 202 letters was published as Clan Campbell Letters 1559–1583 ed. J. Dawson Scottish History Society 5th series Vol 10 1997. This volume is now out of print.

1548–1559

1560–1562

1563

1564

1565

January to March

April to August

September to October

November toDecember


May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December


1571

1572

1576–1583


All corrections received will be posted on this page.

  • GD112/39/2/12 n. 3 Campbell of Glenlyon's first wife was a daughter of Blair of Balgillo. This has been corrected on the webpages but not on the transcript. [My thanks to Andrew B W MacEwan]
  • GD112/39/6/20 The letter was dated Tuesday 1 June 1567. In 1567 1 June was Trinity Sunday so the date was probably a mistake for 1 July, a Tuesday. This means it was written after the battle of Carberry, rather than before. [My thanks to Andrew B W MacEwan]
  • GD112/39/12/1 Lynthinthie - this might be Lethindy in Perthshire rather than Linlithgow, though in 1570 Linlithgow was the location for many of the negotiations of the civil war. [My thanks to Andrew B W MacEwan]

For ease of reference, the letters have also been catelogued by date and by bundle.

All corrections received will be posted on this page.

  • GD112/39/2/12 n. 3 Campbell of Glenlyon's first wife was a daughter of Blair of Balgillo. This has been corrected on the webpages but not on the transcript. [My thanks to Andrew B W MacEwan]
  • GD112/39/6/20 The letter was dated Tuesday 1 June 1567. In 1567 1 June was Trinity Sunday so the date was probably a mistake for 1 July, a Tuesday. This means it was written after the battle of Carberry, rather than before. [My thanks to Andrew B W MacEwan]
  • GD112/39/12/1 Lynthinthie - this might be Lethindy in Perthshire rather than Linlithgow, though in 1570 Linlithgow was the location for many of the negotiations of the civil war. [My thanks to Andrew B W MacEwan]

Please send feedback and any comments or corrections to the Letters to Professor Jane Dawson. 

Background

16th century and the collection's historical background

Ownership and copyright

The manuscript letters are owned by the National Archives of Scotland, and the copyright of the letter transcripts is held by Prof. Jane Dawson, School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh. You may download these transcripts but, if citing, please give the correct NAS reference and acknowledge this site.

The following conventions have been adopted:

  • The information in the headings follows modern usage where possible, providing the standardized form of place-names and the usual modern form of personal names and titles.
  • For Gaelic names the conventions used in Acts of Lords of the Isles eds. J & R.W. Munro [SHS 1986] p. lxxxiii, have been followed. In the body of the letters 'Mc' and 'Vc' have been treated as abbreviations and expanded to 'Mac' and 'Vic'. In dating the year is taken to begin on 1 January, though the dates within the letters have been retained as written.
  • The original internal layout of the letters has been retained and within the text of the transcript the start and end of each line corresponds to the lines within the manuscript.
  • The entire text of each letter, even those badly damaged, has been included. Damaged portions of the manuscripts have been indicated by unspaced points, viz ..., and uncertain readings have been placed in brackets. Sections within asterisks have been inserted into the main body of the text from their original position in the manuscript margins.
  • The original spelling of the manuscript letters has been retained and the characters 'thorn' and 'yogh' have been transcribed 'y' and 'z' respectively (in the SHS edition they are transcribed 'th' and 'y').
  • To aid reading capital letters and minimal punctuation have been inserted and all abbreviations and contractions silently expanded.
  • Readings from the MacGregor transcripts [GD50] have been placed within brackets.

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