Section V. The Laing Charters

This material is held atEdinburgh University Library Heritage Collections

  • Reference
    • GB 237 Coll-1/La.V
  • Dates of Creation
    • 854-1837
  • Physical Description
    • 66 boxes, and miscellaneous (10 linear metres)

Scope and Content

The Laing Charters constitute Section V of the Laing Collection with shelfmarks La.V. There are some 3,300 charters and writs, mainly Scottish, and mainly of the 16th and 17th centuries, although the earliest is a charter in Anglo-Saxon dated 854 and the latest is dated 1837. Some of the charters still have their original seals. The persons referred to in the material include abbots, vicars, parsons, baillies, provosts, and persons of high rank, office and title. There are armorial seals, seals with merchant's marks, episcopal seals, monastic seals, local seals, royal seals, and foreign seals.

Access Information

Contact the repository for details

Other Finding Aids

Handlists, H2 and H3; Handlist H2 is the work by John Anderson, Calendar of the Laing Charters, Edinburgh: James Thin, 1899. Handlist H3 is Seals on the Laing Charters described by William Rae Macdonald. Another important finding aid is the alphabetical Index to Manuscripts held at Edinburgh University Library, Special Collections and Archives. Additions to the typed slips in sheaf binders were made until 1987.

Geographical Names