‘Qwhen Alexander our Kynge was Dede’

The eight lines of verse in Andrew of Wyntoun’s Original Chronicle beginning ‘Qwhen Alexander our kynge was dede’ are commonly read divorced from their original context. Although this can lead to distorted interpretation, the lines are nevertheless representative of one of the most significant but under-studied themes of the whole work: kingship and good governance. Wyntoun offers us models of good kingship or tyranny, and he focuses on certain key topics related to governance, such as the relationship between the Church and State, the nature of royal lineages, and moments of transition between reigns, and the role of a king or leader as proponent of justice and peace. This aspect of Wyntoun’s Chronicle has never before been noted but it is worthy of far greater attention, not least because it repositions the Prior’s often dismissed work as one of the foundational texts in the Scots Advice to Princes tradition.