The Chronicle of Melrose Abbey is one of our most important sources for the history of England and Scotland in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The monks of this Cistercian house, which was founded close to the border on the Scottish side, were keen observers of the affairs of both kingdoms, in particular the civil war that beset England late in the reign of Henry III (1216-72). No other contemporary account rivals their detailed narrative of the battles of Lewes and Evesham or the personality and devotions of Simon de Montfort.

Historian and archivist Joseph Stevenson included the chronicle in the collected works he edited and translated under the title "The Church Historians of England," republished here by Handshake Press as volume six of its series of medieval chronicles.