The Abbot (1820) is a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, one of the Waverley novels. A sequel to The Monastery, its action takes place in 1567 and 1568. It reaches its climax in the escape of Mary, Queen of Scots from Lochleven Castle leading to her defeat at the Battle of Langside and her final departure from Scotland. Composition and sources It seems likely that Scott was considering a novel depicting the imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots at Lochleven Castle as early as the summer of 1817. It is further likely that in August 1819 he began work on a novel (soon called The Monastery) which was intended to include the Lochleven material. He laid that aside to complete Ivanhoe, and by the time he resumed writing in November he realised he had sufficient material to make two three-volume novels. He completed The Monastery before the end of February 1820. The Abbot was begun in the second half of April and finished (with the possible exception of the Introductory Epistle) probably on 11 August. Scott had in his library an extensive collection of works relating to Mary, Queen of Scots, the most recent being the Life of Mary, Queen of Scots by George Chalmers which appeared in 1818. It is noteworthy that he refuses to address the question of her role in the death of Darnley, which had long tended to dominate discussions. The characterisation of the other historical figures in the novel is essentially Scott's own, though again he was able to glean details of actions and utterances from his collection. Editions The Abbot was published by Archibald Constable and John Ballantyne in Edinburgh on 2 September 1820 and by Longman. Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown in London two days later. As with all of the Waverley novels before 1827 publication was anonymous. The print run was 10,000 and the price £1 4s (£1.20). There is no reason to suppose that Scott was involved with the novel again until the beginning of 1830 when he revised the text and added an introduction and notes for the 'Magnum' edition where it appeared as Volumes 20 and 21 in January and February 1831. The standard modern edition, by Christopher Johnson, was published in 2000 as Volume 10 of the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels: it is based on the first edition with emendations mainly from the manuscript and