Data gathering started with the List of Saints of Scotland website and Wikipedia links to that site plus additional information from, for example, the Aberdeen Breviary. With the addition of information from the Pictish Symbol Stones website this produced the compilation with 72 names referred to in this investigation as Saints of Scotland Source A. It became the primary source for assessing the likelihood of relevance of Saints in dating the Transition Timeframe but the next steps resulted in a longer list.
Seeing the frieze with the names of Saints of Scotland in St Andrews Chapel, Westminster Cathedral prompted photographing the carved names then compiling a list of 112 names as Source B. Making a comparison with Source A showed a difference of 40 names.
Finally, information from a 1919 publication “A Calendar of Scottish Saints” resulted in Source C.
Although the start point in considering Saints of Scotland and their Scottish Connections was Source A, it has now prompted a further purpose enabling comparison across Sources.
Data from the three sources showed there are several differences in content. Saints Names have been placed in four groupings:
Set 1) on Frieze, in Calendar & in Source A
Set 2) on Frieze, in Calendar but not in Source A
Set 3) not on Frieze but in Calendar and in Source A
Set 4) not on Frieze, not in Calendar but in Source A
Saints Names for this analysis came from material much of which was derived from other sources. For the time period under consideration it is perhaps not surprising that there are limited traces back to prime sources. Recording tends to lack historical rigour, there are apparent inaccuracies, some information is uncorroborated and other data from what we know now is simply wrong. So, for an initial broad based view of the numbers above there are few surprises looking at the varying correlations across the three sources.
This PDF is the record of the Analysis of Correlations across the Three Sources. It includes all the Saints Names found in the three sources – the same set of names is used in assessing the likelihood of relevance of Saints Names in dating “Transition” (Part 3).
Just over half of the Saints Names in Source A have been found on the Frieze in Westminster Cathedral. More detailed analysis to better understand the differences will be added to Part 5 – Outcome.