[Henry Guthrie], Manuscript copy of his Memoirs, late 17th century

[Henry Guthrie]

Manuscript copy of his Memoirs, here entitled "A true accompt of the affairs of the Church of Scotland from the Reformatione till the Death of K. Charles the first"

written throughout in a single scribal mixed hand, 212 numbered pages, 4to, late 17th century, later half calf, spine lettered in gilt, first leaf repaired at margin, second leaf repaired at lower corner, dust staining to initial leaves, wear to final leaves, some minor water staining and fading 

AN UNRECORDED MANUSCRIPT COPY OF AN IMPORTANT HISTORY OF THE SCOTTISH KIRK DURING THE TUMULT OF THE CIVIL WARS. Henry Guthrie (?1600-1676) was a minister in the Scottish Kirk with a living in Stirling. He signed the National Covenant in 1638 but his disagreements with more radical covenanters grew in the years of conflict that followed and he was eventually deposed from the ministry in 1649. He remained a marginal figure until the Restoration, when he accepted the re-establishment of the episcopacy and was eventally consecrated Bishop of Dunkeld in 1665. His Memoirs begin with a history of the Kirk from the time of Knox but are primarily given over to an account of public and church life in Scotland in the decades leading up to the execution of Charles I, circulating in manuscript during his lifetime. They are a valuable historical source although they are of course coloured by Guthrie's own politics, for example in their hostility to the Dukes of Hamilton. The Memoirs were published in 1702.