Editing John Barbour (poet)

{{Short description|Scottish poet  (c.1320 – 1395)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2012}}

{{Infobox person
| name               = John Barbour
| birth_date         = ''c.'' 1320
| death_date         = 13 March 1395 (aged ''c.'' 75)
| death_place        = [[Aberdeen]]
| nationality        = Scottish
| occupation         = [[Clergy|churchman]] and poet
| notable_works      = ''[[The Brus]]''
| image              = Memorial to John Barbour, St Machar's Cathedral.jpg
}}

[[File:St. Machar's Cathedral tower, Aberdeen.jpg|right|220px|thumb|St Machar's Cathedral, where '''Barbour''' was [[Archdeacon#Roman Catholic Church|archdeacon]].]]

'''John Barbour''' (c.1320 &ndash; 13 March 1395) was a [[Scottish people|Scottish]] poet and the first major named literary figure to write in [[Scots language|Scots]]. His principal surviving work is the historical verse romance, ''[[The Brus]]'' (''The [[Robert I of Scotland|Bruce]]''), and his reputation from this poem is such that other long works in Scots which survive from the period are sometimes thought to be by him. He is known to have written a number of other works, but other titles definitely ascribed to his authorship, such as ''The Stewartis Oryginalle'' (''Genealogy of the [[House of Stuart|Stewarts]]'') and ''The Brut'' (''[[Brutus of Troy|Brutus]]''), are now lost.

Barbour was latterly Archdeacon of the [[St Machar's Cathedral|Diocese of Aberdeen]] in Scotland. He also studied in [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] and [[University of Paris|Paris]]. Although he was a man of the church, his surviving writing is strongly [[secular]] in both tone and themes. His principal patron was [[Robert II of Scotland|Robert II]] and evidence of his promotion and movements before Robert Stewart came to power as king tend to suggest that Barbour acted politically on the future king's behalf.<ref name="Duncaned">A.A.M.Duncan (ed.), ''[[The Bruce]]'' Canongate Classics, 1999 edition. "Introduction", pp. 2–3</ref>

He died in 1395, probably in [[Aberdeen]].

==Life==
[[File:Robert II (Alba) ii.JPG|right|170px|thumb|[[Robert II of Scotland]], '''Barbour's''' royal patron.]]

John Barbour may have been born around 1320 if the record of his age in 1375 as 55 is correct. His birthplace is not known, though [[Aberdeenshire (traditional)|Aberdeenshire]] and [[Galloway]] have made rival claims.

Barbour's first appearance in the historical record comes in 1356 with promotion to the [[archdeaconry]] of Aberdeen from a post he had held for less than a year in [[Dunkeld Cathedral]]. It is inferred from this that he was also present in [[Avignon papacy|Avignon]] in 1355.<ref name="Duncaned" /> In 1357, when [[David II of Scotland|David II]] returned to Scotland from exile and was restored to active kingship, Barbour received a letter of safe-conduct to travel through England to the [[University of Oxford]]. He subsequently appears to have left the country in other years coincidental with periods when David II was active king.

After the death of David II in 1371, Barbour served in the royal court of Robert II in a number of capacities. It was during this time that he composed, ''The Brus'', receiving for this in 1377 the gift of ten [[pounds Scots]], and in 1378 a life-pension of twenty shillings. He held various posts in the king's household. In 1372 he was one of the auditors of [[exchequer]] and in 1373 a clerk of audit.

The only biographical evidence for his closing years is his signature as a witness to sundry deeds in the "Register of Aberdeen" in 1392. According to the obit-book of [[St Machar's Cathedral]], [[Aberdeen]] he died on 13 March 1395 and state records show that his life-pension was not paid after that date. Barbour made provision for a [[Mass (liturgy)|mass]] to be sung for himself and his parents, an instruction that was observed in the [[St Machar's Cathedral|Cathedral of St Machar]] until the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]].

==Works==

===''The Brus''===
{{main|The Brus}}
[[File:Barbour's The Bruce.JPG|thumb|An 18thC edition of [[The Brus]] in the National Museum of Scotland]]
[[File:John Barbour.JPG|right|210px|thumb|The sentiment underlying the poem.]]
''[[The Brus]]'', Barbour's major surviving work, is a long [[narrative poem]] written while he was a member of the king's household in the 1370s. Its subject is the ultimate success of the prosecution of the [[First War of Scottish Independence]]. Its principal focus is [[Robert I of Scotland|Robert the Bruce]] and [[James Douglas, Lord of Douglas|Sir James Douglas]], but the second half of the poem also features actions of Robert II's [[House of Stuart|Stewart]] forebears in the conflict.

Barbour's purpose in the poem was partly historical and partly patriotic. He celebrates The Bruce (Robert I) and Douglas throughout as the flowers of Scottish [[chivalry]]. The poem opens with a description of the state of [[Scotland]] at the death of [[Alexander III of Scotland|Alexander III]] (1286) and concludes (more or less) with the death of Douglas and the burial of the Bruce's [[Human heart|heart]] (1332). Its central episode is the [[Battle of Bannockburn]].

[[Patriotic]] as the sentiment is, this is expressed in more general terms than is found in later [[Scottish literature]]. In the poem, Robert I's character is a hero of the chivalric type common in contemporary romance, [[Free will|Freedom]] is a "noble thing" to be sought and won at all costs, and the opponents of such freedom are shown in the dark colours which history and poetic propriety require, but there is none of the complacency of the merely provincial habit of mind.

Barbour's style in the poem is vigorous, his line generally fluid and quick, and there are passages of high merit. The most quoted part is Book 1, lines 225-228:

{{Poem quote|A! fredome is a noble thing! 
Fredome mayss man to haiff liking; 
Fredome all solace to man giffis: 
He levys at ess that frely levys!}}

===''Stewartis Oryginalle''===
One of Barbour's known lost works is ''The Stewartis Oryginalle'' which is described as having traced the [[Robert II of Scotland#Ancestry|genealogy of the Stewarts]]. The Stewart name replaced that of Bruce in the Scottish royal line when Robert II acceded to the throne after the death of [[David II of Scotland|David II]], his uncle.

Robert II was Barbour's royal [[patron]]. It is not known how the work came to be lost.

===''Buik of Alexander''===
Attempts have been made to name Barbour as the author of the ''[[Buik of Alexander]]'', a Scots translation of the ''[[Roman d'Alexandre]]'' and other associated pieces. This translation borrows much from ''The Brus''. It survives and is known to us from the unique edition printed in [[Edinburgh]], c. 1580, by [[Alexander Arbuthnot (printer)|Alexander Arbuthnot]].

===''Legends of the Saints''===
Another possible work was added to Barbour's canon with the discovery in the library of the [[University of Cambridge]], by [[Henry Bradshaw (scholar)|Henry Bradshaw]], of a long Scots poem of over 33,000 lines, dealing with ''[[Legends of the Saints]]'', as told in the ''[[Legenda Aurea]]'' and other [[Legendary (hagiography)|legendaries]]. The general likeness of this poem to Barbour's accepted work in verse-length, [[dialect]] and style, and the facts that the lives of [[England|English]] saints are excluded and those of [[St. Machar]] (the patron saint of [[Aberdeen, Scotland|Aberdeen]]) and [[St. Ninian]] are inserted, make this ascription plausible. Later criticism, though divided, has tended in the contrary direction, and has based its strongest negative judgement on the consideration of rhymes, assonance and vocabulary.

==Legacy==
As "father" of Scots poetry, Barbour holds a place in the Scotland's literary tradition similar to the position often given to [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer]], his contemporary, ''vis à vis'' the vernacular tradition in [[England]]. If he truly was the author of the five or six long works in Scots which different witnesses ascribe to him, then he would have been one of the most voluminous writers of [[Early Scots]], if not the most voluminous of all Scots poets. But his authorship of ''The Brus'' alone, both for its original employment of the chivalric genre, and as a tale of a struggle against tyranny,<ref>A.A.M.Duncan (ed.), ''[[The Bruce]]'' Canongate Classics, 1999 edition. "Preface", p.vii</ref> secures his place as an important and innovative literary voice who broke new linguistic ground.

==See also==
* [[Scottish literature]]
* [[Makar]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Barbour's Bruce'', edited by Matthew P. McDiarmid and James A. C. Stevenson, 3 volumes. Edinburgh, Scottish Text Society, 1980–5.
* ''The Bruce: A Selection'', edited by Alexander Kinghorn. Edinburgh, 1960. The Saltire Classics.
*{{Citation
|last=Barbour
|first=Johne
|author-link=John Barbour (poet)
|year=1375
|editor-last=Innes
|editor-first=Cosmo
|editor-link=Cosmo Innes
|contribution=The Story of The Brus
|contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d6UOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1
|title=The Brus
|publisher=The Spalding Club
|publication-date=1856
|publication-place=Aberdeen
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d6UOAAAAYAAJ
|access-date=2008-08-17
}} - in Scots
*{{Citation
|last=Barbour
|first=Johne
|author-link=John Barbour (poet)
|year=1375
|editor-last=Skeat
|editor-first=Walter W.
|title=The Bruce; or, The Book of the most excellent and noble prince, Robert de Broyss, King of Scots
|publisher=Early English Text Society
|publication-date=1870
|publication-place=London
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UU8JAAAAQAAJ
|access-date=2008-08-17
}} - in Scots with Modern English annotations
*{{Citation
|last=Barbour
|first=Johne
|author-link=John Barbour (poet)
|year=1375
|editor-last=Eyre-Todd
|editor-first=George
|title=The Bruce, being the Metrical History of Robert The Bruce, King of Scots
|publisher=Gowans & Gray Limited
|publication-date=1907
|publication-place=London
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=skZ7OI64-wwC
|access-date=2008-08-17
}} - a modern English translation
* ''John Barbour's The Bruce: A Free Translation in Verse by James Higgins''. Bury St Edmunds, Abramis, 2013.
* {{Eminent Scotsmen|Barbour, John|1|133-139}}
* {{Cite journal|title=Worthy, Wycht and Wys: Romance, Chivalry, and Chivalric Language in John Barbour's Bruce|journal=Leeds Studies in English|url=https://archive.org/details/lse-2018-whole-issue|last=Titterton|first=James|date=31 December 2018|volume=49|pages=101–120}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* {{wikisource author-inline}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=42677| name=John Barbour}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=John Barbour |birth=1316 |death=1395}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel}}
{{succession box |
 before= [[Alexander de Kininmund (d. 1380)|Alexander de Kininmund]] |
 title=[[Archdeacon of Aberdeen]] |
 years=x 1357&ndash;1395 |
 after= [[Henry de Lichton]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Scots makars}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbour, John}}
[[Category:Scots Makars]]
[[Category:14th-century Scottish poets]]
[[Category:1316 births]]
[[Category:1395 deaths]]
[[Category:Scots-language writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Aberdeenshire]]
[[Category:Scottish politicians]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford]]
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]
[[Category:14th-century Scottish Roman Catholic priests]]
[[Category:writers from Aberdeen]]
[[Category:Early Scots poets]]
[[Category:Scottish expatriates in France]]