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The Firth of Forth which separates Fife (north) and the Lothians (south). Dunfermline is close to the principal crossing point on the Fife side.

Robert Henryson (Middle Scots: Robert Henrysoun) was a poet who flourished in Scotland in the period c. 1460–1500. Counted among the Scots makars, he lived in the royal burgh of Dunfermline and is a distinctive voice in the Northern Renaissance at a time when the culture was on a cusp between medieval and renaissance sensibilities. Little is known of his life, but evidence suggests that he was a teacher who had training in law and the humanities, that he had a connection with Dunfermline Abbey and that he may also have been associated for a period with Glasgow University. His poetry was composed in Middle Scots at a time when this was the state language. His writing consists mainly of narrative works. His surviving body of work amounts to almost 5000 lines.

Figure in Abbot House which purports to imagine Henryson; more strictly speaking, the image depicts Aesop as portrayed in Henryson's *Morall Fabillis*

Dunfermline Abbey from a 17th-century engraving which gives a more complete impression of the original building complex than survives today.

Works

Henryson's surviving canon consists of three long poems and around twelve miscellaneous short works in various genres. The longest poem is his Morall Fabillis, a tight, intricately structured set of thirteen fable stories in a cycle that runs just short of 3000 lines. Two other long works survive, both a little over 600 lines each. One is The Tale of Orpheus and Erudices his Quene, his dynamic and inventive version of the Orpheus story. The other is his Testament of Cresseid, a tale of moral and psychological subtlety in a tragic mode founded upon the literary conceit of "completing" Criseyde's story-arc from Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde. Emily Wingfield has explored its significance in relation to the deployment of the Trojan Legend in political discourse between England and Scotland.^[1]

The range of Henryson's shorter works includes Robene and Makyne, a pastourelle on a theme of love, as well as a bawdy passage of comic flyting which targets the medical practises of his day, a highly crafted and compressed poem of Marian devotion, some allegorical works, some philosophical meditations, and a prayer against the pest. As with his longer works, his outward themes often carry important subtexts.^{[citation needed]}

Constructing a sure chronology for Henryson's writings is not possible, but his Orpheus story may have been written earlier in his career, during his time in Glasgow, 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.^{[citation needed]}

Biographical inferences

Leuven's University Library in 1915, illustrating just one of the ways in which historical records can be lost.

There is no record of when or where Henryson was born or educated. The earliest found unconfirmed reference to him occurs on 10 September 1462, when a man of his name with license to teach is on record as having taken a post in the recently founded University of Glasgow. If this was the poet, as is usually assumed, then the citation indicates that he had completed studies in both arts and canon law.^[2]

Almost all early references to Henryson firmly associate his name with Dunfermline.^[3] He probably had some attachment to the city's Benedictine abbey,^{[citation needed]} the burial place for many of the kingdom's monarchs and an important centre for pilgrimage close to a major ferry-crossing en route to St Andrews. Direct unconfirmed evidence for this connection occurs in 1478 when his name appears as a witness on abbey charters.^[4] If this was the poet, then it would establish that one of his functions was as notary for the abbey, an institution which possessed and managed a vast portfolio of territory across Scotland.^[5]

The almost universal references to Henryson as schoolmaster are usually taken to mean that he taught in and had some duty to run the grammar school for Dunfermline's abbatial burgh.^[6] A partial picture of what this meant in practice may be derived from a confirmatio of 1468 which granted provision to build a "suitable" house for the habitation of a "priest" (as master of grammar) and "scholars" in Dunfermline, including "poor scholars being taught free of charge".^[7]

Abbot House Window, Dunfermline, depicting Henryson's *Lion and the Mouse*.

Dunfermline, as a royal burgh with capital status, was routinely visited by the court with residences directly linked to the abbey complex. There is no record of Henryson as a court poet, but the close proximity makes acquaintance with the royal household likely.^{[citation needed]} He was active during the reigns of James III and James IV, both of whom had strong interests in literature.

According to the poet William Dunbar, Henryson died in Dunfermline. An apocryphal story by the English poet Francis Kynaston in the early 17th century refers to the flux as the cause of death, but this has not been established.^[8] The year of death also is unknown, although c.1498-9, a time of plague in the burgh, has been tentatively suggested.^[9] However, Dunbar gives the terminus ad quem in a couplet (usually considered to have been composed c.1505) which simply states that Death in Dunfermelyne

...hes done roune (has whispered in private)

with Maister Robert Henrysoun.

(William Dunbar, Lament for the Makaris, lines 81–2)^[10]

Almost nothing else is known of Henryson outside of his surviving writing. It is not known if he originated from Dunfermline and a suggestion that he may have been linked to the Fife branch of the Clan Henderson is not possible to verify,^[11] although his name is certainly of that ilk.

General style

Henryson generally wrote in a first-person voice using a familiar tone that quickly brings the reader into his confidence and gives a notable impression of authentic personality and beliefs.^{[citation needed]} The writing stays rooted in daily life and continues to feel grounded even when the themes are metaphysical or elements are fantastic. His language is a supple, flowing and concise Scots that clearly shows he knew Latin,^{[citation needed]} while scenes are usually given a deftly evocative Scottish setting which can only have come from close connection and observation.^[12] This detailed, intimate and realistic approach, at times, strongly suggests matters of personal experience and attitudes to actual contemporary events, yet the specifics remain elusive in ways that tantalise readers and critics. Some of this sense of intrigue may be in part accidental, but it is also heightened by his cannily controlled application of a philosophy of fiction, a frequently self-proclaimed feature of the work.^[13]

No concrete details of his life can be directly inferred from his works, but there are some passages of self-reflection that appear to contain autobiographical implications, particularly in the opening stanzas of his Testament of Cresseid.^{[citation needed]}

Henryson's Scots

Henryson wrote using 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.^{[citation needed]}

Legacy

Poet Seamus Heaney adapted Henryson's fables and they were published by Faber and Faber in 2010. The poems were made into a series of short, animated films, shortly before he died. Heaney worked with Scottish actor Billy Connolly in the production of the works, with a score composed for the project by pianist Barry Douglas. The films were broadcast on the BBC in 2014, shortly after Heaney's death - one of the last creations of Heaney's life. ^[14] ^[15]

Extant poems

All known and extant writings attributed to Robert Henryson are listed here. In addition, the scholar Matthew P McDiarmid identified from an index a lost poem by Henryson which began: On fut by Forth as I couth found (not listed below).^[16]

Long works

The Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian (See below for list of individual fables in the cycle)
The Tale of Orpheus and Erudices his Quene
The Testament of Cresseid

Short works

Individual fables

Seven of the stories in Henryson's cycle are Aesopian fables derived from elegiac Romulus texts, while the other six (given in italics) are Reynardian in genre. The three titles given with bold numbers provide evidence for the integral unity of the overall structure.

01 The Cock and the Jasp
02 The Twa Mice
03 The Cock and the Fox
04 The Confession of the Tod
05 The Trial of the Tod
06 The Sheep and the Dog
07 The Lion and the Mouse
08 The Preaching of the Swallow
09 The Fox the Wolf and the Cadger
10 The Fox the Wolf and the Husbandman
11 The Wolf and the Wether
12 The Wolf and the Lamb
13 The Paddock and the Mouse

Bibliography

Gray, Douglas (1979), Robert Henryson, E.J. Brill, ISBN 9789004059177
Barron, W.R.J. (ed.) (1981), Robert Henryson: Selected Poems, Carcanet New Press ISBN 9780856353017
McDiarmid, Matthew P. (1981), Robert Henryson, Scottish Academic Press, ISBN 0-7073-0306-0
Fox, Denton (ed.) (1981), The Poems of Robert Henryson, Clarendon Press, ISBN 9780198127031
David Murison (ed.) (1989), Selected Poems by Robert Henryson, The Saltire Society, ISBN 9780854110100
Fleming, Morna (ed.) (2003), The Flouer o Makarheid, The Robert Henryson Society, Dunfermline
Wingfield, Emily (2014), The Trojan Legend in Medieval Scottish Literature, D.S. Brewer, ISBN 978-1-84384-364-1

Notes and references

^ Wingfield, Emily (2014), The Trojan Legend in Medieval Scottish Literature, D.S. Brewer, Cambridge, ISBN 978-1-84384-364-1, pp. 121 - 149.
^ The University of Glasgow, Munimenta, II, 69, dated 10 September 1462, admits a Robert Henryson, licenciate in Arts and bachelor of Decreits (Canon Law), as a member of the University. It is considered strongly likely, from secondary evidence, that this was the poet.
^ These are all posthumous references, such as on the title pages of the early printed editions of his work that started to appear after his lifetime.
^ The dates are 18 and 19 March and 6 July 1478 and the signature is Magistro Roberto Henrison publico notario. See McDiarmid, M.P. 1981: Robert Henryson, Scottish Academic Press, p.3.
^ The scholar John MacQueen contextualises this record of the poet as a notary in Scotland against the Act of 1469 which gave James III power to appoint notaries public over and above the rights of the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor and the consequent expulsion of notaries appointed by the Emperor Frederick III of Germany. MacQueen, J. 2006: Complete and Full with Numbers: the Narrative Poetry of Robert Henryson, Rodopi, Amsterdam, pp.10 and 12.
^ The title page of the 1570 edition of Henryson's Fables, for instance, refers to the poet as "scholemaister of Dunfermeling".
^ Confirmatio, dated 26 November 1468. Published in Kirk, J. ed. 1997: Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome: 1447–1471, Scottish Academic Press. p.396.
^ See Robert L Kindrick, Introduction which quotes Kynaston's general thoughts on Henryson and the "merry, though somewhat unsauory tale".
^ See McDiarmid, M.P. 1981: Robert Henryson, Scottish Academic Press, p.12
^ The title maister is a further indication that the poet was indeed the university-educated Henryson associated with Glasgow University.
^ Laing, David (1865) The Poems and Fables of Robert Henryson pp. x-xii.
^ See Wittig, K. 1958: The Scottish Tradition in Literature, Oliver and Boyd, chapter 2, for appraisals of Henryson's descriptive technique.
^ "Certainly the present writer would like to know more about Robert Henryson as he lived outside his verse than about any other Scots poet." (McDiarmid, M.P. 1981: Robert Henryson, Scottish Academic Press, p.1.) McDiarmid's first chapter goes on to develop a surprisingly full speculative picture of the poet's life gleaned from evidence in his poetry, secondary historical evidence for the period and the surviving citations of his name in an extremely broken record.
^ Seamus Heaney, Five Fables
^ Heaney's Five Fables, published by Faber and Faber, 2010
^ McDiarmid, M.P. 1981: Robert Henryson, Scottish Academic Press, p.4

External links

Robert Henryson Society homepage
The Chepman & Myllar Prints digital edition at the National Library of Scotland contains the following works by Henryson:
- The Praise of Age
- Orpheus and Eurydice
- The Want of Wise Men
Robert L. Kindrick, 'The Morall Fabillis: Introduction"

[1] Wingfield, Emily (2014), The Trojan Legend in Medieval Scottish Literature, D.S. Brewer, Cambridge, ISBN 978-1-84384-364-1, pp. 121 - 149.

[2] The University of Glasgow, Munimenta, II, 69, dated 10 September 1462, admits a Robert Henryson, licenciate in Arts and bachelor of Decreits (Canon Law), as a member of the University. It is considered strongly likely, from secondary evidence, that this was the poet.

[3] These are all posthumous references, such as on the title pages of the early printed editions of his work that started to appear after his lifetime.

[4] The dates are 18 and 19 March and 6 July 1478 and the signature is Magistro Roberto Henrison publico notario. See McDiarmid, M.P. 1981: Robert Henryson, Scottish Academic Press, p.3.

[5] The scholar John MacQueen contextualises this record of the poet as a notary in Scotland against the Act of 1469 which gave James III power to appoint notaries public over and above the rights of the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor and the consequent expulsion of notaries appointed by the Emperor Frederick III of Germany. MacQueen, J. 2006: Complete and Full with Numbers: the Narrative Poetry of Robert Henryson, Rodopi, Amsterdam, pp.10 and 12.

[6] The title page of the 1570 edition of Henryson's Fables, for instance, refers to the poet as "scholemaister of Dunfermeling".

[7] Confirmatio, dated 26 November 1468. Published in Kirk, J. ed. 1997: Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome: 1447–1471, Scottish Academic Press. p.396.

[8] See Robert L Kindrick, Introduction which quotes Kynaston's general thoughts on Henryson and the "merry, though somewhat unsauory tale".

[9] See McDiarmid, M.P. 1981: Robert Henryson, Scottish Academic Press, p.12

[10] The title maister is a further indication that the poet was indeed the university-educated Henryson associated with Glasgow University.

[11] Laing, David (1865) The Poems and Fables of Robert Henryson pp. x-xii.

[12] See Wittig, K. 1958: The Scottish Tradition in Literature, Oliver and Boyd, chapter 2, for appraisals of Henryson's descriptive technique.

[13] "Certainly the present writer would like to know more about Robert Henryson as he lived outside his verse than about any other Scots poet." (McDiarmid, M.P. 1981: Robert Henryson, Scottish Academic Press, p.1.) McDiarmid's first chapter goes on to develop a surprisingly full speculative picture of the poet's life gleaned from evidence in his poetry, secondary historical evidence for the period and the surviving citations of his name in an extremely broken record.

[14] Seamus Heaney, Five Fables

[15] Heaney's Five Fables, published by Faber and Faber, 2010

[16] McDiarmid, M.P. 1981: Robert Henryson, Scottish Academic Press, p.4

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|15th-century Scottish makar (poet)}}
 {{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
 {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
 [[File:Wfm firth of forth.jpg|right|250px|thumb|The [[Firth of Forth]] which separates [[Fife]] (north) and the [[Lothians]] (south). Dunfermline is close to the principal crossing point on the Fife side.]]
-'''Robert Henryson''' ([[Middle Scots]]: '''Robert Henrysoun''') was a poet who flourished in [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]] in the period c. 1460–1500. Counted among the [[Scots language|Scots]] ''[[makar]]s'', he lived in the [[royal burgh]] of [[Dunfermline]] and is a distinctive voice in the [[Northern Renaissance]] at a time when the culture was on a cusp between [[Middle Ages|medieval]] and renaissance sensibilities. Little is known of his life, but evidence suggests that he was a teacher who had training in law and the [[Liberal arts|humanities]], that he had a connection with [[Dunfermline Abbey]] and that he may also have been associated for a period with [[University of Glasgow|Glasgow University]]. His poetry was composed in [[Middle Scots]] at a time when this was the [[state language]]. It is one of the most important bodies of work in the canon of early Scottish literature.
+'''Robert Henryson''' ([[Middle Scots]]: '''Robert Henrysoun''') was a poet who flourished in Scotland in the period c. 1460–1500. Counted among the [[Scots language|Scots]] ''[[makar]]s'', he lived in the [[royal burgh]] of [[Dunfermline]] and is a distinctive voice in the [[Northern Renaissance]] at a time when the culture was on a cusp between [[Middle Ages|medieval]] and renaissance sensibilities. Little is known of his life, but evidence suggests that he was a teacher who had training in law and the [[Liberal arts|humanities]], that he had a connection with [[Dunfermline Abbey]] and that he may also have been associated for a period with [[University of Glasgow|Glasgow University]]. His poetry was composed in [[Middle Scots]] at a time when this was the [[state language]]. His writing consists mainly of [[narrative poetry|narrative works]]. His surviving body of work amounts to almost 5000 lines.
-His writing consists mainly of [[narrative poetry|narrative works]] highly inventive in their development of story-telling techniques. He generally achieved a canny balance of humour and high seriousness which is often multi-layered in its effects. This is especially so in his ''[[Morall Fabillis]]'', in which he expresses a consistent but complex [[world view]] that seems standard, on the surface, ''vis a vis'' the major ruling power of the church, while containing critical and questioning elements. This range is further extended in his ''[[Testament of Cresseid]]'' with its more tragic vision. Overall, his themes and tone convey an attractive impression of [[Humanitarianism|humanity]] and compassionate intellect. He was a subtle [[rhetoric]]ian and remains to this day one of the finest in the Scots language.
-Although his writing usually incorporated a typically medieval [[didactic]] purpose, it also has much in common with other artistic currents of northern Europe which were generally developing, such as the [[Realism (arts)|realism]] of [[Flemish painting]], the historical candour of [[John Barbour (poet)|Barbour]] or the narrative scepticism of [[Chaucer]]. An example is his subtle use of psychology to convey individual character in carefully dramatised, recognisable daily-life situations which tend to eschew fantastic elements.
 [[Image:Dunfermline Abbey - entrance.jpg|right|thumb|250px|The [[west|west door]] of '''Dunfermline Abbey'''.]]
 [[File:Robert Henryson, as portrayed in the Abbot House, Dunfermline.jpg|thumb|250px|Figure in [[Abbot House, Dunfermline|Abbot House]] which purports to imagine Henryson; more strictly speaking, the image depicts [[Aesop]] as portrayed in Henryson's ''[[Morall Fabillis]]'']]
 [[File:Dunfermline Abbey by John Slezer.jpg|right|thumb|250px|[[Dunfermline Abbey]] from a 17th-century engraving which gives a more complete impression of the original building complex than survives today.]]
-His surviving body of work amounts to almost exactly 5000 lines.
 ==Works==
-Henryson's surviving canon consists of three [[long poem]]s and around twelve miscellaneous short works in various genres. The longest poem is his ''Morall Fabillis,'' a tight, intricately structured set of thirteen fable stories in a [[Sequence (poetry)|cycle]] that runs just short of 3000 lines. Two other long works survive, both a little over 600 lines each. One is his dynamic and inventive version of the [[Orpheus]] story and the other, his ''[[Testament of Cresseid]]'', is a tale of moral and psychological subtlety in a tragic mode founded upon the literary [[conceit]] of "completing" Criseyde's story-arc from [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer]]'s Troilus and Criseyde.
+Henryson's surviving canon consists of three [[long poem]]s and around twelve miscellaneous short works in various genres. The longest poem is his ''[[The Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian|Morall Fabillis]],'' a tight, intricately structured set of thirteen fable stories in a [[Sequence (poetry)|cycle]] that runs just short of 3000 lines. Two other long works survive, both a little over 600 lines each. One is ''[[The Tale of Orpheus and Erudices his Quene]],'' his dynamic and inventive version of the [[Orpheus]] story. The other is his ''[[Testament of Cresseid]]'', a tale of moral and psychological subtlety in a tragic mode founded upon the literary [[conceit]] of "completing" Criseyde's story-arc from [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer]]'s Troilus and Criseyde. Emily Wingfield has explored its significance in relation to the deployment of the Trojan Legend in political discourse between England and Scotland.<ref>Wingfield, Emily (2014), ''The Trojan Legend in Medieval Scottish Literature'', D.S. Brewer, Cambridge, {{isbn|978-1-84384-364-1}}, pp. 121 - 149.</ref>
-The range of Henryson's shorter works includes a highly original [[pastourelle]] on a theme of love, as well as a bawdy passage of comic [[flyting]] which targets the medical practises of his day, a highly crafted and compressed poem of [[Blessed Virgin Mary|Marian]] devotion, some allegorical works, some philosophical meditations, and a prayer against the [[Bubonic plague|pest]]. As with his longer works, his outward themes often carry important [[subtext]]s.
+The range of Henryson's shorter works includes ''[[Robene and Makyne]],'' a [[pastourelle]] on a theme of love, as well as a bawdy passage of comic [[flyting]] which targets the medical practises of his day, a highly crafted and compressed poem of [[Blessed Virgin Mary|Marian]] devotion, some allegorical works, some philosophical meditations, and a prayer against the [[Bubonic plague|pest]]. As with his longer works, his outward themes often carry important [[subtext]]s.{{fact|date=December 2020}}
-Constructing a sure chronology for Henryson's writings is not possible, but his Orpheus story may have been written earlier in his career, during his time in [[History of Glasgow|Glasgow]], 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.
+Constructing a sure chronology for Henryson's writings is not possible, but his Orpheus story may have been written earlier in his career, during his time in [[History of Glasgow|Glasgow]], 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.{{fact|date=December 2020}}
 ==Biographical inferences==
+[[File:Interior of the Famous Library at Louvain destroyed during World War I.jpg|left|thumb|180x180px|Leuven's University Library in 1915, illustrating just one of the ways in which historical records can be lost.]]
+There is no record of when or where Henryson was born or educated. The earliest found unconfirmed reference to him occurs on 10 September 1462, when a man of his name with license to teach is on record as having taken a post in the recently founded [[Glasgow University|University of Glasgow]]. If this was the poet, as is usually assumed, then the citation indicates that he had completed studies in both [[arts]] and [[canon law]].<ref>The University of Glasgow, ''Munimenta,'' II, 69, dated 10 September 1462, admits a Robert Henryson, [[licenciate]] in Arts and [[Bachelor's degree|bachelor]] of Decreits (Canon Law), as a member of the University. It is considered strongly likely, from secondary evidence, that this was the poet.</ref>
+Almost all early references to Henryson firmly associate his name with Dunfermline.<ref>These are all posthumous references, such as on the title pages of the early printed editions of his work that started to appear after his lifetime.</ref> He probably had some attachment to the city's [[Benedictine]] abbey,{{fact|date=December 2020}} the burial place for many of the kingdom's [[List of Scottish monarchs|monarchs]] and an important centre for [[Christian pilgrimage|pilgrimage]] close to a major ferry-crossing ''en route'' to [[St Andrew's Cathedral, St Andrews|St Andrews]]. Direct unconfirmed evidence for this connection occurs in 1478 when his name appears as a witness on abbey charters.<ref>The dates are 18 and 19 March and 6 July 1478 and the signature is ''Magistro Roberto Henrison publico notario.'' See [[Matthew McDiarmid|McDiarmid, M.P.]] 1981: ''Robert Henryson,'' Scottish Academic Press, p.3.</ref> If this was the poet, then it would establish that one of his functions was as [[Notary Public#Scotland|notary]] for the abbey, an institution which possessed and managed a vast portfolio of territory across Scotland.<ref>The scholar John MacQueen contextualises this record of the poet as a notary in Scotland against the Act of 1469 which gave James III power to appoint [[notaries public]] over and above the rights of the Pope and the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] and the consequent expulsion of notaries appointed by the Emperor [[Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick III]] of Germany. [[John MacQueen|MacQueen, J.]] 2006: ''Complete and Full with Numbers: the Narrative Poetry of Robert Henryson,'' Rodopi, Amsterdam, pp.10 and 12.</ref>
-[[Image:Louvain Library WWI.jpg|left|180px|thumb|Leuven's University Library in 1915, illustrating just one of the ways in which historical records can be lost.]]
-There is no record of when or where Henryson was born or educated. The earliest found unconfirmed reference to him occurs in September 1462 when a man of his name with license to teach is on record as having taken a post in the recently founded [[Glasgow University|University of Glasgow]]. If this was the poet, as is usually assumed, then the citation indicates that he had completed studies in both [[arts]] and [[canon law]].<ref>The University of Glasgow, ''Munimenta,'' II, 69, dated 10 September 1462, admits a Robert Henryson, [[licenciate]] in Arts and [[Bachelor's degree|bachelor]] of Decreits (Canon Law), as a member of the University. It is considered strongly likely, from secondary evidence, that this was the poet.</ref> With no record of him as a student in Scotland, it is normally thought that he graduated in a university furth of the land, possibly in [[Old University of Leuven|Leuven]], [[University of Paris|Paris]] or [[University of Bologna|Bologna]]. This has not been established.
-Almost all early references to Henryson firmly associate his name with Dunfermline.<ref>These are all posthumous references, such as on the title pages of the early printed editions of his work that started to appear after his lifetime.</ref> He probably had some attachment to the city's [[Benedictine]] abbey, the burial place for many of the kingdom's [[List of Scottish monarchs|monarchs]] and an important centre for [[Christian pilgrimage|pilgrimage]] close to a major ferry-crossing ''en route'' to [[St Andrew's Cathedral, St Andrews|St Andrews]]. Direct unconfirmed evidence for this connection occurs in 1478 when his name appears as a witness on abbey charters.<ref>The dates are 18 and 19 March and 6 July 1478 and the signature is ''Magistro Roberto Henrison publico notario.'' See [[Matthew McDiarmid|McDiarmid, M.P.]] 1981: ''Robert Henryson,'' Scottish Academic Press, p.3.</ref> If this was the poet, then it would establish that one of his functions was as [[Notary Public#Scotland|notary]] for the abbey, an institution which possessed and managed a vast portfolio of territory across Scotland.<ref>The scholar John MacQueen contextualises this record of the poet as a notary in Scotland against the Act of 1469 which gave James III power to appoint [[notaries public]] over and above the rights of the Pope and the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] and the consequent expulsion of notaries appointed by the Emperor [[Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick III]] of Germany. [[John MacQueen|MacQueen, J.]] 2006: ''Complete and Full with Numbers: the Narrative Poetry of Robert Henryson,'' Rodopi, Amsterdam, pp.10 and 12.</ref>
 The almost universal references to Henryson as schoolmaster are usually taken to mean that he taught in and had some duty to run the [[History of education in Scotland|grammar school]] for Dunfermline's [[Territorial abbacy|abbatial burgh]].<ref>The title page of the 1570 edition of Henryson's Fables, for instance, refers to the poet as "scholemaister of Dunfermeling".</ref> A partial picture of what this meant in practice may be derived from a ''confirmatio'' of 1468 which granted provision to build a "suitable" house for the habitation of a "[[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priest]]" (as master of grammar) and "scholars" in Dunfermline, including "poor scholars being taught free of charge".<ref>''Confirmatio,'' dated 26 November 1468. Published in Kirk, J. ed. 1997: ''Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome: 1447–1471,'' Scottish Academic Press. p.396.</ref>
-[[Image:Antonello da Messina - Portrait of a Man - National Gallery London.jpg|left|100px|thumb|Period portrait showing typical appearance of the day]]
 [[File:Abbot House Window, Dunfermline, depicting Robert Henryson Poem.JPG|100px|right|thumb|Abbot House Window, Dunfermline, depicting Henryson's ''Lion and the Mouse''.]]
-Dunfermline, as a [[royal burgh]] with capital status, was routinely visited by the court with [[Dunfermline Palace|residences]] directly linked to the abbey complex. There is no record of Henryson as a court poet, but the close proximity makes acquaintance with the royal household likely. He was active during the reigns of [[James III of Scotland|James III]] and [[James IV of Scotland|James IV]], both of whom had strong interests in literature.
+Dunfermline, as a [[royal burgh]] with capital status, was routinely visited by the court with [[Dunfermline Palace|residences]] directly linked to the abbey complex. There is no record of Henryson as a court poet, but the close proximity makes acquaintance with the royal household likely.{{fact|date=December 2020}} He was active during the reigns of [[James III of Scotland|James III]] and [[James IV of Scotland|James IV]], both of whom had strong interests in literature.
-According to the poet [[William Dunbar]], Henryson died in Dunfermline. An [[apocryphal]] story by the English poet [[Francis Kynaston]] in the early 17th century refers to the [[dysentery|flux]] as the cause of death, but this has not been established.<ref>See [http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/henryint.htm Robert L Kindrick, Introduction] which quotes Kynaston's general thoughts on Henryson and the "merry, though somewhat unsauory tale".</ref> The year of death also is unknown, although c.1498-9, a time of [[Plague (disease)|plague]] in the burgh, has been tentatively suggested.<ref>See McDiarmid, M.P. 1981: ''Robert Henryson,'' Scottish Academic Press, p.12</ref> However, Dunbar gives the [[terminus ad quem]] in a couplet (usually considered to have been composed [[circa|c.]]1505) which simply states that Death ''in Dunfermelyne
+According to the poet [[William Dunbar]], Henryson died in Dunfermline. An [[apocryphal]] story by the English poet [[Francis Kynaston]] in the early 17th century refers to the [[dysentery|flux]] as the cause of death, but this has not been established.<ref>See [http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/henryint.htm Robert L Kindrick, Introduction] which quotes Kynaston's general thoughts on Henryson and the "merry, though somewhat unsauory tale".</ref> The year of death also is unknown, although c.1498-9, a time of [[Plague (disease)|plague]] in the burgh, has been tentatively suggested.<ref>See McDiarmid, M.P. 1981: ''Robert Henryson,'' Scottish Academic Press, p.12</ref> However, Dunbar gives the [[terminus ad quem]] in a couplet (usually considered to have been composed [[Wiktionary:circa|c.]]1505) which simply states that Death ''in Dunfermelyne
 :''...hes done roune'' (has whispered in private)
@@ Line 48: / Line 40: @@
 ==General style==
-Henryson generally wrote in a [[First-person narrative|first-person]] voice using a familiar tone that quickly brings the reader into his confidence and gives a notable impression of authentic [[personality psychology#Philosophical assumptions|personality]] and [[beliefs]]. The writing stays rooted in daily life and continues to feel grounded even when the themes are [[metaphysics|metaphysical]] or elements are fantastic. His language is a supple, flowing and concise [[Middle Scots|Scots]] that clearly shows he knew [[Latin]], while scenes are usually given a deftly evocative Scottish setting which can only have come from close connection and observation.<ref>See [[Kurt Wittig|Wittig, K.]] 1958: ''The Scottish Tradition in Literature,'' Oliver and Boyd, chapter 2, for appraisals of Henryson's descriptive technique.</ref> This detailed, intimate and realistic approach, at times, strongly suggests matters of personal experience and attitudes to actual contemporary events, yet the specifics remain elusive in ways that tantalise readers and critics. Some of this sense of intrigue may be in part accidental, but it is also heightened by his cannily controlled application of a philosophy of fiction, a frequently self-proclaimed feature of the work.<ref>"Certainly the present writer would like to know more about Robert Henryson as he lived outside his verse than about any other Scots poet."  (McDiarmid, M.P. 1981: ''Robert Henryson,'' Scottish Academic Press, p.1.) McDiarmid's first chapter goes on to develop a surprisingly full speculative picture of the poet's life gleaned from evidence in his poetry, secondary historical evidence for the period and the surviving citations of his name in an extremely broken record.</ref>
+Henryson generally wrote in a [[First-person narrative|first-person]] voice using a familiar tone that quickly brings the reader into his confidence and gives a notable impression of authentic [[personality psychology#Philosophical assumptions|personality]] and [[beliefs]].{{fact|date=December 2020}} The writing stays rooted in daily life and continues to feel grounded even when the themes are [[metaphysics|metaphysical]] or elements are fantastic. His language is a supple, flowing and concise [[Middle Scots|Scots]] that clearly shows he knew [[Latin]],{{fact|date=December 2020}} while scenes are usually given a deftly evocative Scottish setting which can only have come from close connection and observation.<ref>See [[Kurt Wittig|Wittig, K.]] 1958: ''The Scottish Tradition in Literature,'' Oliver and Boyd, chapter 2, for appraisals of Henryson's descriptive technique.</ref> This detailed, intimate and realistic approach, at times, strongly suggests matters of personal experience and attitudes to actual contemporary events, yet the specifics remain elusive in ways that tantalise readers and critics. Some of this sense of intrigue may be in part accidental, but it is also heightened by his cannily controlled application of a philosophy of fiction, a frequently self-proclaimed feature of the work.<ref>"Certainly the present writer would like to know more about Robert Henryson as he lived outside his verse than about any other Scots poet."  (McDiarmid, M.P. 1981: ''Robert Henryson,'' Scottish Academic Press, p.1.) McDiarmid's first chapter goes on to develop a surprisingly full speculative picture of the poet's life gleaned from evidence in his poetry, secondary historical evidence for the period and the surviving citations of his name in an extremely broken record.</ref>
-No concrete details of his life can be directly inferred from his works, but there are some passages of [[Human self-reflection|self-reflection]] that appear to contain autobiographical implications, particularly in the opening stanzas of his ''Testament of Cresseid''.
+No concrete details of his life can be directly inferred from his works, but there are some passages of [[Human self-reflection|self-reflection]] that appear to contain autobiographical implications, particularly in the opening stanzas of his ''Testament of Cresseid''.{{fact|date=December 2020}}
 ==Henryson's Scots==
-Henryson wrote using the [[Middle Scots|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.
+Henryson wrote using the [[Middle Scots|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.{{fact|date=December 2020}}
+==Legacy==
+Poet [[Seamus Heaney]] adapted Henryson's fables and they were published by [[Faber and Faber]] in 2010. The poems were made into a series of short, animated films, shortly before he died. Heaney worked with Scottish actor [[Billy Connolly]] in the production of the works, with a score composed for the project by pianist [[Barry Douglas (pianist)|Barry Douglas]]. The films were broadcast on the BBC in 2014, shortly after Heaney's death -  one of the last creations of Heaney's life. <ref>[https://www.seamusheaney.com/news-and-events/2019/3/12/five-fables-five-years-on Seamus Heaney, ''Five Fables'']</ref>  <ref>[https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571249664-the-testament-of-cresseid-seven-fables/ Heaney's ''Five Fables''], published by Faber and Faber, 2010</ref>
 ==Extant poems==
@@ Line 69: / Line 64: @@
 * ''[[Robene and Makyne]]''
-* ''[[Sum Practysis of Medecyne and other Short Works#Sum Practysis of Medecyne|Sum Practysis of Medecyne]]''
+* ''[[Sum Practysis of Medecyne and other Short Wars#Sum Practysis of Medecyne|Sum Practysis of Medecyne]]''
 * ''[[Sum Practysis of Medecyne and other Short Works#The Annuciation|The Annuciation]]''
 * ''[[Sum Practysis of Medecyne and other Short Works#Ane Prayer for the Pest|Ane Prayer for the Pest]]''
@@ Line 98: / Line 93: @@
 * 12 [[The Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian#Fabill 12|The Wolf and the Lamb]]
 * '''13''' [[The Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian#Fabill 13 and Conclusion|The Paddock and the Mouse]]
+==Bibliography==
+* Gray, Douglas (1979), ''Robert Henryson'', E.J. Brill, {{isbn|9789004059177}}
+* Barron, W.R.J. (ed.) (1981), ''Robert Henryson: Selected Poems'', Carcanet New Press {{isbn|9780856353017}}
+* McDiarmid, Matthew P. (1981), ''Robert Henryson'', [[Scottish Academic Press]], {{isbn|0-7073-0306-0}}
+* Fox, Denton (ed.) (1981), ''The Poems of Robert Henryson'', Clarendon Press, {{isbn|9780198127031}}
+* David Murison (ed.) (1989), ''Selected Poems by Robert Henryson'', The Saltire Society, {{isbn|9780854110100}}
+* Fleming, Morna (ed.) (2003), ''The Flouer o Makarheid'', The Robert Henryson Society, Dunfermline
+* Wingfield, Emily (2014), ''The Trojan Legend in Medieval Scottish Literature'', D.S. Brewer, {{isbn|978-1-84384-364-1}}
 ==See also==
@@ Line 110: / Line 114: @@
 {{portal|Poetry|Scotland}}
 {{wikiquote}}
-*[http://www.culture24.org.uk/am46230 Dunfermline's Carnegie Public Lending Library] has a special Henryson collection which can be consulted by appointment.
-*[http://www.britaininprint.net/learning/testament.php Britain in Print] has an online audio recording of Henryson's ''The Testament of Cresseid'' read by [[Colin Donati]] and Dr [[Morna Fleming]] among its resources.
 *[http://www.henryson.org.uk Robert Henryson Society homepage]
 *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060510233646/http://www.nls.uk/digitallibrary/chepman/books.htm The Chepman & Myllar Prints] digital edition at the [[National Library of Scotland]] contains the following works by Henryson:
@@ Line 117: / Line 119: @@
 **Orpheus and Eurydice
 **The Want of Wise Men
-;More information can also be found at:
 *[http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/morint.htm Robert L. Kindrick, 'The Morall Fabillis: Introduction"]
-*[http://www.burnsscotland.com/tours/edinburgh/The Writers' Museum]{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} in Edinburgh commemorates Robert Henryson in its [[Makars' Court]] in [[Lady Stair's Close]]. Selections for Makars' Court are made by [[The Writers' Museum]], [[The Saltire Society]] and [[Scottish Poetry Library|The Scottish Poetry Library]].
 {{Henryson}}
 {{Scots makars}}
-{{Renaissance navbox}}
 {{Authority control}}
@@ Line 135: / Line 133: @@
 [[Category:1420s births]]
 [[Category:1500s deaths]]
-[[Category:Works by Robert Henryson| ]]
 [[Category:Fabulists]]
 [[Category:Lallans poets]]
 [[Category:Scottish educators]]
 [[Category:Clan Henderson|Robert]]
-[[Category:Dunfermline]]
 [[Category:People associated with Fife]]
 [[Category:People associated with the University of Glasgow]]
@@ Line 146: / Line 142: @@
 [[Category:Alumni of the University of St Andrews]]
 [[Category:15th-century Scottish poets]]
-[[Category:15th-century Scottish writers]]
+[[Category:15th-century educators]]

v t e Scots makars
c. 1370 – c. 1460	John Barbour Huchoun James I Sir Gilbert Hay Andrew of Wyntoun Richard Holland
c. 1460 – c. 1560	Blind Harry Robert Henryson Walter Kennedy William Dunbar Gavin Douglas David Lyndsay Richard Maitland John Stewart of Baldynneis William Stewart
c. 1560 – 17th century	Alexander Scott Alexander Montgomerie James VI Castalian Band William Fowler Christian Lindsay Elizabeth Melville Alexander Hume Robert Sempill Robert Sempill the younger Francis Sempill William Drummond John Stewart of Baldynneis
18th century – 20th century	Allan Ramsay Robert Fergusson Robert Burns Robert Louis Stevenson Alicia Ann Spottiswoode William Soutar Robert Garioch Sydney Goodsir Smith Tom Scott George Campbell Hay Alexander Scott Hamish Henderson William Neill
Makar or National Poet for Scotland (from 2004)	Edwin Morgan Liz Lochhead Jackie Kay Kathleen Jamie

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