Huchoun

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Huchoun or Huchown "of the Awle Ryale" (fl. 14th century) is one of the earliest poets of Scotland whose works survive. The little that is known about him mainly comes from the Chronicle of Andrew of Wyntoun.

Hucheon,
þat cunnande was in littratur.
He made a gret Gest of Arthure
And þe Awntyr of Gawane,
Þe Pistil als of Suet Susane.
He was curyousse in his stille,
Fayr of facunde and subtile,
And ay to pleyssance hade delyte,
Mad in metyr meit his dyte
Litil or noucht neuir þe lesse
Wauerande fra þe suythfastnes.

(Cotton Manuscript book V. II, 4308-4318).

Of the works Andrew of Wyntoun mentions, the easiest to identify is Þe Pistil als of Suet Susane or Epistle of Sweet Susan (surviving in 5 manuscripts). The Gest of Arthure, also called Gest Historyalle and described by Wyntoun, is usually identified as Alliterative Morte Arthure (found in the Thornton manuscript of Lincoln Cathedral).

The Awntyr of Gawane is less certain. It has been suggested that it represents Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and he is therefore also credited with Patience, Pearl, and Cleanness, but with very little evidence for this conjecture. These works of the Pearl Poet are linguistically quite distinct from what seems to be the oldest versions of the works more solidly attributed to Huchoun. More likely is the suggestion that it represents Awntyres of Arthure at the Tern Wathelyne which has several variants in multiple manuscripts.

Who Huchoun was is uncertain. William Dunbar, in his Lament for the Makaris, mentions a poet called "gude Sir Hew of Eglyntoun". Hugh of Eglington was a knight who was brother-in-law to David II, the Scottish king, and the idea that he may be called Huchoun, a diminutive equivalent to little Hugh, seems disrespectful although not without precedent. Hugh of Eglington's close connection with the king and the fact that he was given safe conduct to visit London may explain "of the Awle Ryale", if that be interpreted as "Aula Regalis" or "Royal Palace".

The big problem with this identification is that the poems ascribed to Huchoun are of varying dialects but none of them are Scottish. Even the poem most likely to be authentically Huchoun's own work, the Epistle of Sweet Susan, seems to be in a north Yorkshire dialect which is still a long way from the Scottish written at that time. Two possibilities are that a Scottish poet wrote in a southern dialect, perhaps after being educated in England, or that the Scotticisms were "translated" by later scribes. Other candidates for Huchoun from different parts of England have much less detailed evidence to prove their case.

[edit] References

• Harvey, Paul. 1967. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. London: Oxford University Press.
• Ward and Trent, eds. et al. 1907-1921. The Cambridge history of English and American literature: An encyclopedia in eighteen volumes. Retrieved July 7, 2005.