First modern scholarly edition of a number of late medieval Scottish poems, in the comic tradition. This volume contains eleven Scottish examples of particular kinds of humorous writing - comic, parodic, and satiric - of the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Previously unavailable in modern scholarly editions, these worksare freshly established from diverse sources, including the manuscript that is the earliest extant of John Knox's "Historie of the Reformatioun of Religioun". A manuscript owned by the Campbell of Glenorchy family is the source ofthe volume's most substantial work, Duncane Laideus Testament; the poem's bicultural outlook provides an important reference point for historians, as well as scholars of early Scottish and Gaelic literature. Other texts include David Lyndsay's The Complaint of Bagsche and the anonymous "My gudame wes a gay wif". To assist study of the development of early Scottish writing, and to chart historical, especially religious, change, the poems are arranged in their probable order of composition. Each is introduced separately, with consideration of witnesses; evidence for date of composition and authorship; title, metre, and genre; and full apparatus. Explanatory notesexamine matters of interest or potential difficulty, including the sense of contemporary expressions, wordplay, legal and Latin terms, and debts to earlier writers.The volume also includes a full Bibliography, Glossary, and Indexof Names and Places. Dr Janet Hadley Williams is Honorary Visiting Fellow, School of Literature, Languages, and Linguistics, College of Arts and Social Sciences, The Australian National University.

Born in the last years of James III's reign, Sir David Lyndsay (c.1486-1555) served under James IV, James V, and Mary. As a writer, Lyndsay is best known today for his play, "Ane Satyre of The Thrie Estaitis", a biting and comic commentary on Church and State that is still regularly performed today. But it was Lyndsay's other works, of which this volume offers an accessible selection, that made him the best known Scottish poet of the time. In the late sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a literate household in Scotland was likely to own two books: the "Bible" and the poems of Sir David Lyndsay. Today, while a performance of "Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis" can still draw the crowds, very little is known about the rest of Lyndsay's work. This new volume from ASLS is designed to introduce some of Lyndsay's best poems to a new audience. Lyndsay's greatest strength is his range and diversity, from comic verse to political satire to spiritual reflection. These are the features that made Lyndsay a popular writer in his own time; explored again, he might well regain that status in ours. Dr Williams has planned the selected poems to introduce these works both to new readers, for whom there are on-the-page annotations and references, and to specialists, who will wish to work with freshly-established texts. The explanatory notes illustrate the richness of Lyndsay's language and those contemporary references now less known. An Introduction provides biographical information and discusses important features of Lyndsay's poetry, and a full Bibliography offers further support for scholars.

Seminal investigations into the most important aspects of medieval Scots texts, with a particular focus on editing and manuscript context. This rich selection from the writings of Priscilla Bawcutt, the major scholar of Older Scots literature, both honours her achievement and provides authoritative guidance to all involved in the pleasures and challenges of medieval and early modern Scottish studies. The first five chapters, including a hitherto unpublished paper, gather her insights into how to examine, contextualize, and edit early poetic texts. Among her discussions are those on the importance of explanatory notes, the usefulness of fragments, the demands of transcription, and the need for objectivity when identifying supposed influences, date, or author. Bawcutt draws on a variety of texts, including Dunbar's "elrich fantasyis", Rolland's Court of Venus, and metrical Scottish charms to illustrate these aspects of editing. Two central chapters then give balance and coherence to the complex evidence of change in literary activities and tastes in early Scotland. First, an analytical survey of manuscript miscellanies, noting their diversity in size, condition, arrangement, copyists, owners, and purposes, offers many different ways to approach these compilations. Secondly, Bawcutt's study of one particular miscellany, the great five-part Bannatyne Manuscript, provides new information on the sources and authors of the many texts it contains and the diversity of their literary and cultural connections. Five further chapters combine textual and bibliographical studies with contextual explorations, into personal libraries, habits of reading, annotators, and book circulation within family groups, across borders, or over time. Among these illuminating essays are those on Gavin Douglas's imaginary library, and the influential first printed edition of his Eneados, both of increasing interest alongside the new edition of his translation. A full bibliography of Priscilla Bawcutt's publications is also included.

A full survey and overview of the extraordinary flowering of Scottish poetry in the middle ages. The poetry written in Scotland between the late fourteenth and the early years of the sixteenth century is exceptionally rich and varied. The contributions collected here, by leading specialists in the field, provide a comprehensive and up-to-date guide to the material. There are introductions to the literary culture of late medieval Scotland and its historical context; separate studies of the writings of James I, Robert Henryson, William Dunbar, Gavin Douglas, and Sir David Lyndsay; and essays devoted to general themes or genres, including the historiographical tradition, religious verse, romances, and the legendary history of Alexander the Great. A final chapter provides bibliographical guidance on the major advances in the criticism and scholarly study of this poetry during the last thirty years. Contributors: PRISCILLA BAWCUTT, JULIA BOFFEY, JOHN BURROW, ELIZABETH EWAN, R. JAMES GOLDSTEIN, DOUGLAS GRAY, JANET HADLEY WILLIAMS, R. J. LYALL, ANNE MCKIMM, JOANNA MARTIN, RHIANNON PURDIE, NICOLA ROYAN.