Robert Henryson

The Medieval Western Entrance to Dunfermline Abbey.

There are no known images of Robert Henryson. (Click for picture info.)

There are no known images of Robert Henryson. (Click for picture info.)

Robert Henryson is a poet who flourished in Scotland in the period c.1460 – 1500. First 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.

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 scholemaister in the city means that he probably taught in the abbey's grammar school. Evidence suggests he was earlier enrolled into the University of Glasgow as a master in 1462 and that he had been trained in both arts and canon law. There is no record of the city where he must have completed his studies but this was probably furth of Scotland and possible candidates include Leuven, Paris and Bologna. The suggestion that he was linked to the Fife branch of the Clan Henderson is not implausible but 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 generally writes in an easy and familiar tone (often using the first-person) which quickly brings the reader into his confidence and gives a notable impression of authentic personality and beliefs. The language of his poems is a very natural Scots that clearly shows he also spoke Latin. The scenes and stories in his narratives are usually given a deftly evoked Scottish setting that can only come from close observation, and his writing stays rooted in daily life even when the themes are general, mythological or metaphysical. But although his detailed and realistic approach sometimes points towards matters of his own personal experience and hints at actual contemporary events, these aspects ultimately remain elusive in ways that commonly tantalise readers and critics. This is partly due to the canny and intriguing use of an ethical philosophy of fiction which especially characterises his work.

Leuven's University Library 1915. Click image for more information.

William Dunbar's Lament for the Makars contains a couplet usually taken to date his death c.1500:

In Dunfermelyne he hes done roune

With Maister Robert Henrysoun

• Listen: [Link under construction.]

Works

Henryson's surviving works include three major long poems in narrative genre all highly regarded for their excellence in storytelling, beauty in language and subtlety in intellect. They are major works of Scottish literature. The longest is a tight, intricately structured set of thirteen moral fables in a connected 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. This, the Testament of Cresseid and the Preiching of the Swallow (from his Moral Fables) are probably the three of his works that have received the greatest critical regard to date.

It is impossible to put any chronology on his writings, but his Orpheus and Euridice may be one of the earlier works.

All his known writings are listed here:

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.

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

Robene and Makyne

Main article: Robene and Makyne

A short yet subtle pastoral work with a ballad-like quality. It's principal theme is love. Although comic, it has a deliberate subtext which involves the experience of making monastic vows and curiously increases its emotional depth.

The Testament of Cresseid

Main article: The Testament of Cresseid

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

The Tale of Orpheus and Erudices his Quene

Main article: The Tale of Orpheus and Erudices his Quene

Sum Practysis of Medecyne (and other Short Works)

Main article: Sum Practysis of Medecyne and other Short Works

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.

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.

Context (Scotland and Europe)

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.

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