JOHN OF**, the father of Scottish history, flourished in the reign of Alexander III. towards the end of the 13th century. But of his life there is nothing known with certainty, though there was not a monastery that possessed not copies of his work. The first five books of the history which bears his name were written by him: the rest were fabricated from materials left by him, and from new collections by different persons. There is a manuscript in vellum of Fordoun's History, in the library of the university of Edinburgh.