Blind Harry (c. 1440 – 1492), also known as Harry or Henry the Minstrel, is renowned as the earliest surviving lengthy source for the events of the life of William Wallace, the Scottish freedom-fighter. Sir William Wallace ( Scottish Gaelic: Uilleam Uallas; c 1272 – 23 August 1305 was a Scottish Knight, Landowner, and Patriot Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. He wrote The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace around 1477, 172 years after the death of Wallace in 1305. His poem of Wallace's defeat of the English at Dunnottar Castle is thought to be the earliest work of verse to address that site (J. Dunnottar Castle is a ruined Medieval Fortress located upon a precipitous rocky headland on the north-east coast of Scotland, about two miles Reid, Picturesque Stonehaven, 1899). Year 1899 ( MDCCCXCIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common
Blind Harry's words were made more accessible by a translation written by William Hamilton of Gilbertfield (ca. William Hamilton (1665? Gilbertfield, Cambuslang, Scotland &ndash 1751 was a Scottish poet 1665-1751) published in 1722. Year 1751 ( MDCCLI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Year 1722 ( MDCCXXII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a In this form they met the notice of poets such as Robert Burns, Lord Byron, Robert Southey, John Keats, Joanna Baillie, and William Wordsworth. Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796 (also known as Rabbie Burns, Scotland's favourite son, the Ploughman Poet, the Bard of Ayrshire Robert Southey ( August 12, 1774 &ndash March 21, 1843) was an English Poet of the Romantic school one Joanna Baillie ( September 11, 1762 &ndash February 23, 1851) was a Scottish poet and dramatist It was also a prime source for Randall Wallace in his writing of the screenplay Braveheart, upon which the Award Winning Hollywood film was based. Randall Wallace (born July 28, 1949, Jackson Tennessee) is an American Screenwriter, producer, and director who wrote Braveheart is a 1995 historical action-drama movie produced and directed by Mel Gibson, who also starred in the title role Most recently, in 1998, Elspeth King published Hamilton's text amended for modern readers, as Blind Harry's Wallace.
Little is known about Blind Harry's life, but a few snippets of information are available. One source is the Lord High Treasurer's Accounts of 1473-1492, which recorded payments to him for performances at the court of James IV. The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer is an old English (after 1707, British) government position James IV may refer to James IV of Majorca (circa 1336-1375 King of Majorca James IV of Scotland (1473-1513 Duke of Rothesay He is mentioned by William Dunbar on line 69 of his Lament for the Makeris early in the 16th century. This article is about the Scottish poet for other people of this name see William Dunbar (disambiguation. Historian John Major also wrote about Harry in 1518. John Mair or John Major (also known in Latin as Joannes Majoris and Haddingtonus Scotus) (1467-1550 was a Scottish Philosopher These sources differed on whether or not he was blind from birth, but Harry almost certainly seems to have had a military background.
Harry's depiction of Wallace has been criticised by Major and others as being fictionalized. Some parts of it are at variance with contemporary sources; the work describes Wallace leading an army to the outskirts of London; adopting the disguises of a monk, an old woman, and a potter while a fugitive; and travelling to France to enlist support for the Scottish cause, there defeating two French champions as well as a lion. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The lion ( Panthera leo) is a member of the family Felidae and one of four Big cats in the Genus Panthera. "Are there any more dogs you would have slain?" Wallace asks the French king.
The minstrel claimed it was based on a book by Fr. John Blair, Wallace's boyhood friend and personal chaplain, but this may have been a literary device; the chief sources seem to have been traditional. A chaplain is typically a Priest, Pastor, ordained Deacon, Rabbi, Imam or other member of the Clergy serving a group of Most historians nowadays regard it as effectively a historical novel, written at a time of strong anti-English sentiment in Scotland. An historical novel is a Novel in which the story is set among historical events or more generally in which the time of the action predates the lifetime of the Author At twelve volumes, the work is also doubted to be solely his work. Elspeth King maintained that despite any inaccuracies, Harry's patriotic and nationalistic portrayal was to ensure Wallace's continuing reputation as a hero. Burns acknowledged his debt to Harry, incorporating the following lines from Harry's Wallace in his own poem Robert Bruce's Address to his Army at Bannockburn (Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled):
A false usurper sinks in every foe
And liberty returns with every blow
which Burns described as a "a couplet worthy of Homer". Scots Wha Hae ( Scottish Gaelic: Brosnachadh Bhruis) is a Patriotic song of Scotland which served for a long time as an unofficial A couplet is a pair of lines of verse. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter Homer ( Ancient Greek:, Homēros) is a legendary ancient Greek epic Poet, traditionally said to be the author of the epic poems the
Harry is often considered inferior to Barbour as a poet, and has little of his moral elevation, but he surpasses him in graphic power, vividness of description, and variety of incident. John Barbour (?1320 &ndash March 13, 1395) was a Scottish Poet and the first major literary voice to write in Scots, the vernacular He occasionally shows the influence of Chaucer, and is said to have known Latin and French. Geoffrey Chaucer (c 1343 – 25 October 1400? was an English author poet Philosopher, bureaucrat, courtier and Diplomat.
Mel Gibson's film Braveheart draws heavily on this source. Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson, AO (born January 3 1956 Braveheart is a 1995 historical action-drama movie produced and directed by Mel Gibson, who also starred in the title role
References
- This article incorporates public domain text from: Cousin, John William (1910). The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature is a collection of biographies of writers by John William Cousin (1849-1910 published in 1910 London, J. M. Dent & sons; New York, E. P. Dutton.
- Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain (London: The Reader’s Digest Association, 1973), 520.
- Blind Harry's Wallace translated by William Hamilton, introduction by Elspeth King (Edinburgh: Luath Press, 1998). ISBN 0-946487-33-2.
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