Editing George Bannatyne

{{short description|Scottish merchant and collector of Scottish poems (1545–1608)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2019}}
[[File:Bannatyne Manuscript.jpg|300px|thumb|A page from ''The Bannatyne Manuscript''. ([[National Library of Scotland]])]] '''George Bannatyne''' (1545–1608), a native of [[Angus, Scotland]], was an [[Edinburgh]] [[merchant]] and [[burgess (title)|burgess]].<ref name="Scott's memoir">[https://archive.org/stream/bannatynemanusc08laingoog#page/n13/mode/2up Scott's memoir of Bannatyne]</ref> He was the seventh of twenty-three children, including [[Catherine Bannatyne]], born of James Bannatyne of Kirktown of Newtyle in Forfarshire and Katherine Tailefer.<ref>{{cite DNB |wstitle= Bannatyne, George |volume= 03 |last= Mackay |first=  Aeneas James George |author-link= Aeneas James George Mackay |pages = 137–138 |short=1}}</ref>  He is most famous as a collector of [[Scotland|Scottish]] poems. He compiled [[Bannatyne Manuscript|an anthology]] of [[Scots Language|Scots]] poetry while in isolation during a plague in 1568. His work extended to eight hundred folio pages, divided into five parts. The anthology includes works from Scottish Chaucerians as well as many anonymous writers.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=George Bannatyne {{!}} Scottish compiler|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Bannatyne|access-date=2020-12-02|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref>

==The Bannatyne manuscript==
Bannatyne began compiling his manuscript in 1568 while isolated in his home in Edinburgh during an outbreak of the plague.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Brown|first=J. T. T.|date=1904|title=The Bannatyne Manuscript: A Sixteenth Century Poetical Miscellany|journal=The Scottish Historical Review|volume=1|pages=136–158|JSTOR=}}</ref> He was inspired to create the anthology as a means to preserve Scottish Literary heritage.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Newlyn|first=Evelyn|date=1 January 1991|title=Luve, Lichery and Evill Women: The Satiric Tradition in the Bannatyne Manuscript|journal=Studies in Scottish Literature|volume=26|pages=283–293|via=Scholar Commons}}</ref>

The [[Bannatyne Manuscript]] is, with the [[Asloan Manuscript|Asloan]] and [[Maitland Manuscripts|Maitland manuscripts]], one of the great sources of [[Middle Scots]] literature. It contains many works by [[Robert Henryson|Henryson]], [[William Dunbar|Dunbar]], [[David Lyndsay|Lyndsay]], [[Alexander Scott (16th century poet)|Alexander Scott]] and [[Alexander Montgomerie]].<ref name="volume 2">[https://archive.org/stream/bannatynemanuscr02bann#page/n17/mode/2up A transcript of the manuscript (Volume 2 of 4) at archive.org]</ref>

The document was passed by Bannatyne to his descendants, Janet and her husband George Foulis of Woodhall and Ravelston, and then, via several private owners, to the [[Advocates' Library]] of [[Edinburgh]]. It is now held by the [[National Library of Scotland]].<ref name="NLS">[http://digital.nls.uk/scotlandspages/timeline/15682.html National Library of Scotland]</ref>

== The Bannatyne Club ==
The [[Bannatyne Club]] was founded by [[Walter Scott|Sir Walter Scott]] in honour of George Bannatyne for the purpose of promoting and studying Scottish history and literature.<ref name=":0" />

==Recent Scholarship==
More recent scholarship on the [[Bannatyne Manuscript]] suggests an earlier date of 1565 for its composition. 9A. A. MacDonald, 'The Bannatyne Manuscript: a Marian Anthology', ''IR'' xxxvii (1986), 36–47) demonstrate this and Michael Lynch points out that its compilation at this time was appropriate given that it contains a great deal of love poetry and was put together at the time of the royal marriage between Mary I and Lord Darnley. Lynch, M. A ''New History of Scotland'', Pimlico, 1991, p. 213.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Eminent Scotsmen|Bannatyne, George|1|129-133}}
* {{cite DNB |wstitle= Bannatyne, George |volume= 03 |last= Mackay |first=  Aeneas James George |author-link= Aeneas James George Mackay |pages = 137–138 |short=1}}
* {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Bannatyne, George}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bannatyne, George}}
[[Category:1545 births]]
[[Category:1608 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century Scottish merchants]]
[[Category:16th-century Scottish poets]]
[[Category:16th-century Scottish male writers]]