Register of the Great Seal
Guthrie Genealogy · Special Collections
Guthrie Mentions in the Register of the Great Seal of Scotland
Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum · RMS
11 Published Volumes · A.D. 1306–1668
The Register of the Great Seal preserves royal charters and other acts issued under the authority of the Crown. For Guthrie research, these records provide important contemporary evidence for landholding, succession, marriage, cadet branches, offices, legitimations, witnesses, and the changing relationships between Guthrie families and their estates.
Complete Survey · Guthrie References Across Volumes 1–11About the Register
The Great Seal authenticated documents issued in the monarch’s name. The surviving registers contain royal grants and confirmations of lands as well as records involving offices, legitimations, remissions, incorporations, and other Crown acts.
The published Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum makes the material from 1306 through 1668 accessible in eleven indexed volumes. For records after 1424, the published entries are principally calendar or abridged entries rather than complete word-for-word transcriptions of every original charter.
What We Extract
Guthrie surname variants, Guthrie places, spouses and heirs, cadet-branch designations, lands, witnesses, occupations, offices, and other details relevant to Guthrie research.
What the Volume Pages Provide
Chronological finding aids, modern-English translations or transcript summaries, documentary context, Guthrie roles, genealogical value, and links to the digitized published RMS.
Why the RMS Matters
These are contemporary legal records. When they explicitly identify a spouse, son, heir, territorial designation, or property settlement, that evidence can test and sometimes correct later pedigrees.
A Necessary Caution
A witness, neighbor, tenant, place-name reference, or shared surname does not by itself establish identity or descent. Each record is interpreted according to the role actually stated in the document.
Explore the Eleven Volumes
The volume pages are the canonical home for the individual RMS records. Each volume follows the chronology of the published register while preserving the Guthrie evidence in its documentary context.
Specialty Tables
Cross-Volume Research Finding Aids
The Specialty Tables reorganize RMS findings by research subject rather than by publication volume. They are designed to help researchers follow a family, place, relationship, or recurring role across the entire 1306–1668 collection.
The individual RMS volume remains the canonical documentary source. Specialty Tables serve as thematic indexes directing the reader back to those records.
Explore the Specialty Tables →How to Use This Collection
Not every appearance of the Guthrie name carries the same evidentiary weight. The volume pages distinguish records according to the role the Guthrie person, family, or place actually plays in the charter.
Major / High-Value Entries
Guthrie is a principal party or the charter supplies significant evidence concerning property, succession, parentage, marriage, legitimisation, office, or another directly relevant genealogical fact.
Notable / Supporting Entries
Guthrie appears as a witness, neighbor, tenant, occupier, notary, juror, associate, place-name, or in another supporting role. Such references can establish presence, chronology, networks, offices, or continuing property associations.
Source & Access
The eleven-volume published series was issued at Edinburgh by H.M. General Register House between 1882 and 1914. Volume I, published in its present form in 1912, is a new edition of the earlier 1814 folio covering 1306–1424.
Published RMS
The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, A.D. 1306–1668 / Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum. Eleven volumes. Edinburgh: H.M. General Register House, 1882–1914.
Editors
Editorial responsibility varies by volume and includes John Maitland Thomson, James Balfour Paul, John Horne Stevenson, and William Kirk Dickson.
Digital Copies
HathiTrust provides full-view digitized copies of all eleven published volumes. Links from the individual RMS pages lead to the relevant printed pages.
Underlying Records
The Great Seal Registers are held by National Records of Scotland. The published RMS is normally sufficient for finding and interpreting an entry, but the original register or surviving warrant should be consulted when exact wording or documentary form is critical.