Robert Henryson

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Robert Henryson was a poet who flourished in Scotland in the period c.1460 – 1500. Counted among the Scots Makars, he lived in Dunfermline and is regarded as one of the most distinctive and innovative poetic voices of the northern renaissance. He was active at a time when Scotland was on a cusp between medieval and renaissance sensibilites and his body of surviving work, written in Middle Scots, amounts to almost exactly 5000 lines.

Contents 1 Biographical inferences 2 Works 2.1 The Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian 2.1.1 List of Fables 2.2 Robene and Makyne 2.3 The Testament of Cresseid 2.4 The Tale of Orpheus and Erudices his Quene 2.5 Sum Practysis of Medecyne (and other Short Works) 2.5.1 List of Short Works 3 Language 3.1 Henryson's use of Scots 3.2 Help to read 4 Context (Scotland and Europe) 4.1 Literary sources 4.2 Selected references to events 5 Influence and evaluation 6 Notes and references 7 External links

[edit] Biographical inferences

It is usually accepted that Robert Henryson lived in the Royal Burgh of Dunfermline and was attached to its abbey, one of the key religious centres in the kingdom. A reference to him as schoolmaster in the city means that he probably taught in the abbey's grammar school.^[1][2][3] Evidence also suggests he was earlier enrolled into the University of Glasgow as a master in 1462 and that he was trained in both arts and canon law.^[4] There is no record of where he must have completed his studies but this was probably at a university furth of Scotland and possible candidates include Leuven, Paris and Bologna. A suggestion that he was linked to the Fife branch of the Clan Henderson is not possible to verify. Almost nothing else is known of him outside of his surviving writing.

No concrete details of his life can be directly inferred from his works but he ordinarily wrote in a familiar tone typically using the first-person which quickly brings the reader into his confidence and gives a notable impression of authentic personality and beliefs. The writing stays rooted in daily life even when the themes are mythological or metaphysical, while the language of his poems is a concise and supple Middle Scots that clearly demonstrates he knew Latin. Scenes are usually given a deftly evocative Scottish setting that can only come from close connection and observation. His detailed, intimate and realistic approach strongly suggests matters of personal experience and an attitude to actual contemporary events, but the specifics remain elusive in a way that commonly tantalise readers and critics. Much of the intrigue is produced through a cannily controlled use of the proclaimed philosophy of fiction which especially characterises his work.^[5][6]

He may have died in the years 1498 or 1499^[7] but Dunbar's Lament for the Makars contains a couplet that certainly gives the terminus ad quem c. 1505:

In Dunfermelyne he^[8] hes done roune

With Maister^[9] Robert Henrysoun

• Listen: Audio (UK) (help·info) [Link under construction.]

[edit] Works

Henryson's surviving works include three major long poems all in narrative genre and each highly regarded for excellence in storytelling, beauty in language and subtlety of intellect. They are major works of Scottish literature. The longest is a tight, intricately structured set of thirteen moral fables in an integrated sequence of 2975 lines. It is one of the most original and intriguing works in European literature.

In addition there are a handful of short poems. Of these, Robene and Makyne has often been considered the best. The Preiching of the Swallow (from his Morall Fabillis) and the Testament of Cresseid are probably the two works that have received the greatest critical regard to date.

It is probably impossible to put any chronology on his writings, but his Orpheus and Erudices may have been written while he was in Glasgow, and thus an earlier work, since one of its principal sources was contained in the university library. Internal evidence has been used to suggest that the Morall Fabillis were composed during the 1480s.

All his known writings are listed here:

[edit] The Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian

Main article: The Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian

For the article on this poem, or any of the individual fables, click a link.

[edit] List of Fables

• The Prolog and The Taill of the Cok and the Jasp
• The Taill of the Uponlandis Mous and the Burges Mous
• The Taill of Schir Chanticleir and the Foxe
• The Taill of how this foirsaid Tod maid his Confessioun to Freir Wolf Waitskaith
• The Taill of the Sone and Air of the foirsaid Foxe, callit Father Weir: Alswa the Parliament of fourfuttit Beistis, haldin be the Lyoun
• The Taill of the Scheip and the Doig
• The Taill of the Lyoun and the Mous
• The Preiching of the Swallow
• The Taill of the Wolf that gat the Nek-hering throw the wrinkis of the Foxe that begylit the Cadgear
• The Taill of the Foxe that begylit the Wolf in the schadow of the Mone
• The Taill of the Wolf and the Wedder
• The Taill of the Wolf and the Lamb
• The Taill of the Paddok and the Mous

[edit] Robene and Makyne

Main article: Robene and Makyne

A short pastoral work with a ballad-like quality and a theme of rejected love. It is a comic poem with subtext that seems to involve religious vows and work enigmatically on a number of levels.

[edit] The Testament of Cresseid

Main article: The Testament of Cresseid

Probably Henryson's most highly regarded work among Twentieth century literary critics.

[edit] The Tale of Orpheus and Erudices his Quene

Main article: The Tale of Orpheus and Erudices his Quene

[edit] Sum Practysis of Medecyne (and other Short Works)

Main article: Sum Practysis of Medecyne and other Short Works

[edit] List of Short Works

• The Annuciation
• Ane Prayer for the Pest
• The Garment of Gud Ladeis and The Bludy Serk
• Sum Practysis of Medecyne
• Against Hasty Credence
• The Thre Deid-Pollis
• The Praise of Age
• The Abbay Walk
• The Ressoning Betwix Aige and Yowth and The Ressoning Betwix Deth and Man

The 20th century Henryson scholar Matthew P McDiarmid also makes reference to another (lost?) poem which begins: On fut by Forth as I couth found.^[10]

[edit] Language

Henryson's works are composed in the Scots language of the 15th century. This was in an age when the use of vernacular languages for literature in many parts of Europe was increasingly taking the place of Latin, the long-established lingua franca across the continent.

[edit] Henryson's use of Scots

[edit] Help to read

[edit] Context (Scotland and Europe)

[edit] Literary sources

[edit] Selected references to events

[edit] Influence and evaluation

Robert Henryson is commemorated in Makars' Court, outside The Writers' Museum, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh. Selections for Makars' Court are made by The Writers' Museum; The Saltire Society; The Scottish Poetry Library.

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

• List of further reference works on Robert Henryson
• Robert L. Kindrick, 'The Morall Fabillis: Introduction"
• The Chepman & Myllar Prints digital edition at the National Library of Scotland contain the following works by Henryson:
  • The Praise of Age
  • Orpheus and Eurydice
  • The Want of Wise Men

• The Testament of Cresseid resources at Britain in Print

Robert Henryson
The Morall Fabillis
The Cok and the Jasp | The Twa Myis | Schir Chanticleir and the Foxe | The Confessioun of the Tod | The Parliament of the fourfuttit Beistis | The Scheip and the Doig | The Lyoun and the Mous | The Preiching of the Swallow | The Foxe, the Wolf and the Cadgear | The Schadow of the Mone | The Wolf and the Wedder | The Wolf and the Lamb | The Paddok and the Mous
Other works
The Testament of Cresseid | Orpheus and Erudices | Robene and Makyne | The Annuciation | Sum Practysis of Medecyne | The Bludy Serk | The Garment of Gud Ladeis | Against Hasty Credence | The Praise of Age | The Abbay Walk | The Thre Deid-Pollis | Twa Ressonings | Ane Prayer for the Pest