by Maureen Marr
The American lady was vociferous in her condemnation: “That Shakespeare was nothing but a plagiarist!”. Her outburst shattered the timeless serenity of the Innerpeffray Library in rural Perthshire. Before her, on a reading cushion, sat The Hystory and Croniklis of Scotland, John Bellenden’s Scots-language paraphrase of the Historia gentis scotorum by Hector Boece. The Croniklis were open at the description of the three weird sisters. The American lady’s shock stemmed from her realisation that it was from this source that the plot of Shakespeare’s Macbeth had been developed.