Robert Henryson

1425?–c.1490

Introduction

The main manuscript sources of Henryson's poems are largely the same as those of Dunbar's poems: namely, the Bannatyne MS (National Library of Scotland, Adv. MS 1.1.6); the Maitland Folio MS (Magdalene College, Cambridge, Pepys Library, MS 2553); and the Asloan MS (National Library of Scotland, MS 16500), the last manuscript originally including other poems by Henryson, including The Testament of Cresseid and The Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian, which are recorded in the list of contents but now lacking. Three poems also appear in the Makculloch MS (HnR 12, HnR 18, HnR 24), one poem appears in the Gray MS (HnR 7), and independent transcripts of The Morall Fabillis of Esope (HnR 10) and The Testament of Cresseid (HnR 29-30) are preserved.

The last two poems, Henryson's most important works, were first published in the sixteenth century. Three other poems (HnR 14, HnR 16, HnR 35) appeared in the Chepman and Myllar Prints in 1508 (see the Introduction to Dunbar above). The remaining pieces were not published until the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries, when they were edited from the manuscript sources.

Abbreviations

Craigie
The Maitland Folio Manuscript, ed. W.A. Craigie, 2 vols, STS NS 7, 20 (Edinburgh & London, 1919-27).
Craigie, Asloan MS
The Asloan Manuscript, ed. W.A. Craigie, 2 vols, STS NS 14, 16 (Edinburgh & London, 1923-5).
Fox
The Poems of Robert Henryson, ed. Denton Fox (Oxford, 1981).
Gregory Smith
The Poems of Robert Henryson, ed. G. Gregory Smith, 3 vols, STS 55, 58, 64 (Edinburgh & London, 1906-14).
Murdoch
The Bannatyne Manuscript, ed. J. Barclay Murdoch, 4 vols, Hunterian Club (Glasgow, 1896; reprinted New York, 1966).
Ritchie
The Bannatyne Manuscript, ed. W. Tod Ritchie, 4 vols, STS 3rd Ser. 5, 22, 23, 26 (Edinburgh & London, 1928-33).
Stevenson
Pieces from the Makculloch and the Gray MSS. together with the Chepman and Myllar Prints, ed. George Stevenson, STS 65 (Edinburgh & London, 1918).
Wood
The Poems and Fables of Robert Henryson, ed. H. Harvey Wood (Edinburgh, 1933; 2nd edition 1958).

Verse

The Abbay Walk ('Allone as I went up and doun')

Wood, pp. 195-6. Ritchie, I, 50-2. Fox, pp. 156-8.

HnR 1

Copy, untitled.

Edited from this MS in Ritchie and in Fox. Collated in Wood.

A formal anthology of Scottish poetry, including 51 poems presently attributed to William Dunbar, largely in a single secretary hand, with a few later additions in other hands, in two tall folio volumes, with differing series of pagination and foliation, vol. I comprising 192 leaves (paginated 1-385), vol. II comprising 205 leaves (paginated 387-795), all leaves now mounted separately in window mounts, each volume in 19th-century green morocco elaborately gilt.

Compiled by George Bannatyne (b.1545), student of St Andrews and merchant burgess of Edinburgh. Subscribed on the last page finis. / 1568 but probably written over a period of some years.

c.1568

Descending to Bannatyne's son-in-law George Foulis. Later (c.1712) inscribed (p. 60) This book is gifted to Mr William Carmichael Be me James Foulis. Some annotations by Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), poet and editor, and by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer and literary editor. Presented in 1772 by John Carmichael, fourth Earl of Hyndford.

Generally cited as the Bannatyne MS. Complete facsimile, introduced by Denton Fox and William A. Ringler, published by the Scolar Press, 1980. Complete text edited in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Discussed in Priscilla Bawcutt, The Contents of the Bannatyne Manuscript: New Sources and Analogues, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 3 (2008), 95-133. A facsimile page in The National Library of Scotland Advocates' Library Notable Accessions up to 1925 (Edinburgh, 1965), Plate 43.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 1.1.6 Vol. I, pp. 30-2)
HnR 2

Copy, untitled, subscribed ffinis p mr rot Henrysone.

Edited from this MS in Wood; in Murdoch, II, 125-7, and in Ritchie, II. 116-17.

A formal anthology of Scottish poetry, including 51 poems presently attributed to William Dunbar, largely in a single secretary hand, with a few later additions in other hands, in two tall folio volumes, with differing series of pagination and foliation, vol. I comprising 192 leaves (paginated 1-385), vol. II comprising 205 leaves (paginated 387-795), all leaves now mounted separately in window mounts, each volume in 19th-century green morocco elaborately gilt.

Compiled by George Bannatyne (b.1545), student of St Andrews and merchant burgess of Edinburgh. Subscribed on the last page finis. / 1568 but probably written over a period of some years.

c.1568

Descending to Bannatyne's son-in-law George Foulis. Later (c.1712) inscribed (p. 60) This book is gifted to Mr William Carmichael Be me James Foulis. Some annotations by Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), poet and editor, and by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer and literary editor. Presented in 1772 by John Carmichael, fourth Earl of Hyndford.

Generally cited as the Bannatyne MS. Complete facsimile, introduced by Denton Fox and William A. Ringler, published by the Scolar Press, 1980. Complete text edited in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Discussed in Priscilla Bawcutt, The Contents of the Bannatyne Manuscript: New Sources and Analogues, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 3 (2008), 95-133. A facsimile page in The National Library of Scotland Advocates' Library Notable Accessions up to 1925 (Edinburgh, 1965), Plate 43.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 1.1.6 Vol. I, ff. 46v-7r (pp. 152-3))
HnR 3

Copy, untitled.

Edited from this MS in Craigie, I, 351-2. Collated in Wood.

A folio anthology of Scottish poetry, compiled by Sir Richard Maitland (1496-1586), of Lethington, in the hands of several amanuenses, including 63 poems generally attributed to Dunbar, 366 pages.

c.1570-85

Generally cited as the Maitland Folio MS. The complete text edited in Craigie.

A transcript made by John Pinkerton (1758-1826) for his edition of Ancient Scotish Poems, 2 vols (London, 1786), is preserved at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (MS Bell/White 18).

HnR 4

Copy, headed Ane Sonnet and subscribed, Finis, quod Riddell, written in a small MS volume by one Alexander Riddell at Bowland in 1636.

1636

In 1865 in the library of Mr [George] Chalmers of Aldbar.

Recorded in The Poems and Fables of Robert Henryson, ed. David Laing (Edinburgh, 1865), pp. 240-1.

Untraced, miscellaneous ([Riddell MS])
Aganis Haisty Credence of Titlaris ('Ffals titlaris now growis up full rank')

Wood, pp. 215-16. Murdoch, II, 182-4. Ritchie, II, 165-7. Fox, pp. 163-5.

HnR 5

Copy, untitled, subscribed ffinis p mr Robert Hendersone.

Edited from this MS in Wood, in Murdoch, in Ritchie, and in Fox.

A formal anthology of Scottish poetry, including 51 poems presently attributed to William Dunbar, largely in a single secretary hand, with a few later additions in other hands, in two tall folio volumes, with differing series of pagination and foliation, vol. I comprising 192 leaves (paginated 1-385), vol. II comprising 205 leaves (paginated 387-795), all leaves now mounted separately in window mounts, each volume in 19th-century green morocco elaborately gilt.

Compiled by George Bannatyne (b.1545), student of St Andrews and merchant burgess of Edinburgh. Subscribed on the last page finis. / 1568 but probably written over a period of some years.

c.1568

Descending to Bannatyne's son-in-law George Foulis. Later (c.1712) inscribed (p. 60) This book is gifted to Mr William Carmichael Be me James Foulis. Some annotations by Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), poet and editor, and by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer and literary editor. Presented in 1772 by John Carmichael, fourth Earl of Hyndford.

Generally cited as the Bannatyne MS. Complete facsimile, introduced by Denton Fox and William A. Ringler, published by the Scolar Press, 1980. Complete text edited in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Discussed in Priscilla Bawcutt, The Contents of the Bannatyne Manuscript: New Sources and Analogues, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 3 (2008), 95-133. A facsimile page in The National Library of Scotland Advocates' Library Notable Accessions up to 1925 (Edinburgh, 1965), Plate 43.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 1.1.6 ff. Vol. I, 67v-8r (pp. 196-7))
HnR 6

Copy, untitled.

Edited from this MS in Craigie, I, 348-50. Collated in Wood and in Fox.

A folio anthology of Scottish poetry, compiled by Sir Richard Maitland (1496-1586), of Lethington, in the hands of several amanuenses, including 63 poems generally attributed to Dunbar, 366 pages.

c.1570-85

Generally cited as the Maitland Folio MS. The complete text edited in Craigie.

A transcript made by John Pinkerton (1758-1826) for his edition of Ancient Scotish Poems, 2 vols (London, 1786), is preserved at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (MS Bell/White 18).

The Annunciation ('Forcy as deith Is likand lufe')

Wood, pp. 199-201. Stevenson, pp. 43-5. Fox, pp. 154-6.

HnR 7

Copy, untitled.

Edited from this MS in Wood, in Stevenson, and in Fox.

A small composite miscellany (c.12 x 9 cm), in minute secretary hands, 83 leaves, partly on vellum, in modern red morocco (rebacked).

Compiled by James Gray, priest of the diocese of Dunblane and secretary to William Schevez (d.1497) and James Stewart (d.1504), successive Archbishops of St Andrews.

End 15th-early 16th century

Gift of John Ker, 1740.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 34.7. 3 ff. 70r-1v)
The Bludy Serk ('This hindir yeir I hard be tald')

Wood, pp. 173-6. Murdoch, IV, 942-6. Ritchie, IV, 202-5. Fox, pp. 158-62.

HnR 8

Copy, subscribed ffinis p Mr R Henrici.

Edited from this MS in Wood; in Murdoch; in Ritchie; and in Fox.

A formal anthology of Scottish poetry, including 51 poems presently attributed to William Dunbar, largely in a single secretary hand, with a few later additions in other hands, in two tall folio volumes, with differing series of pagination and foliation, vol. I comprising 192 leaves (paginated 1-385), vol. II comprising 205 leaves (paginated 387-795), all leaves now mounted separately in window mounts, each volume in 19th-century green morocco elaborately gilt.

Compiled by George Bannatyne (b.1545), student of St Andrews and merchant burgess of Edinburgh. Subscribed on the last page finis. / 1568 but probably written over a period of some years.

c.1568

Descending to Bannatyne's son-in-law George Foulis. Later (c.1712) inscribed (p. 60) This book is gifted to Mr William Carmichael Be me James Foulis. Some annotations by Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), poet and editor, and by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer and literary editor. Presented in 1772 by John Carmichael, fourth Earl of Hyndford.

Generally cited as the Bannatyne MS. Complete facsimile, introduced by Denton Fox and William A. Ringler, published by the Scolar Press, 1980. Complete text edited in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Discussed in Priscilla Bawcutt, The Contents of the Bannatyne Manuscript: New Sources and Analogues, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 3 (2008), 95-133. A facsimile page in The National Library of Scotland Advocates' Library Notable Accessions up to 1925 (Edinburgh, 1965), Plate 43.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 1.1.6 Vol. II, ff. 325r-6v (pp. 699-702))
The Garment of Gud Ladeis ('Wald my gud lady lufe me best')

Wood, pp. 169-70. Murdoch, III, 611-12. Ritchie, III, 252-4. Fox, pp. 162-5.

HnR 9

Copy, untitled, subscribed ffinis of ye garmet of gud ladeis p Mr rot Herysown.

Edited from this MS in Wood; in Murdoch; in Ritchie; and in Fox.

A formal anthology of Scottish poetry, including 51 poems presently attributed to William Dunbar, largely in a single secretary hand, with a few later additions in other hands, in two tall folio volumes, with differing series of pagination and foliation, vol. I comprising 192 leaves (paginated 1-385), vol. II comprising 205 leaves (paginated 387-795), all leaves now mounted separately in window mounts, each volume in 19th-century green morocco elaborately gilt.

Compiled by George Bannatyne (b.1545), student of St Andrews and merchant burgess of Edinburgh. Subscribed on the last page finis. / 1568 but probably written over a period of some years.

c.1568

Descending to Bannatyne's son-in-law George Foulis. Later (c.1712) inscribed (p. 60) This book is gifted to Mr William Carmichael Be me James Foulis. Some annotations by Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), poet and editor, and by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer and literary editor. Presented in 1772 by John Carmichael, fourth Earl of Hyndford.

Generally cited as the Bannatyne MS. Complete facsimile, introduced by Denton Fox and William A. Ringler, published by the Scolar Press, 1980. Complete text edited in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Discussed in Priscilla Bawcutt, The Contents of the Bannatyne Manuscript: New Sources and Analogues, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 3 (2008), 95-133. A facsimile page in The National Library of Scotland Advocates' Library Notable Accessions up to 1925 (Edinburgh, 1965), Plate 43.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 1.1.6 Vol. II, f. 215r-v)
The Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian ('Thocht feinyeit fabils of ald poetre')

First published in Edinburgh, 1570. Wood, pp. Murdoch, IV, 855-66, 898-922, 946-88. Ritchie, IV, 116-28, 158-82, 206-451-102. Fox, pp. 3-110.

HnR 10

A formal copy, in a professional secretary hand, with a title-page (f. 1v) framed by coloured decorative borders, The morall fabilis of Esope compylit be Maister Robert Heusoun Scholmaister of Dufermling: 1571, engrossed, coloured and decorated initial letters (on ff. 2r, 3v, 12v, 18r, 23r, 31v, 36r, 43r, 51v, 58r, 63v, 67r, and 71r) and coloured vignettes (on ff. 3v, 43v, and 75r), 75 folio leaves, in modern morocco gilt.

1571

This MS collated in Wood and in Fox. Facsimiles of various pages in Wood, facing pp. xiv, 5; in Gregory Smith, II, facing pp. x, 7, 121; and in Chris Fletcher et al., 1000 Years of English Literature: A Treasury of Literary Manuscripts (British Library, 2003), pp. 42-3.

A transcript of the MS made by John Dougald (1821) is in the National Library of Scotland, Adv. MS 19. 3. 5.

HnR 11

Copy of ten fables.

Edited from this MS in Murdoch; in Fox; and in Ritchie, with a facsimile of f. 301v facing p. 123. Collated in Wood.

A formal anthology of Scottish poetry, including 51 poems presently attributed to William Dunbar, largely in a single secretary hand, with a few later additions in other hands, in two tall folio volumes, with differing series of pagination and foliation, vol. I comprising 192 leaves (paginated 1-385), vol. II comprising 205 leaves (paginated 387-795), all leaves now mounted separately in window mounts, each volume in 19th-century green morocco elaborately gilt.

Compiled by George Bannatyne (b.1545), student of St Andrews and merchant burgess of Edinburgh. Subscribed on the last page finis. / 1568 but probably written over a period of some years.

c.1568

Descending to Bannatyne's son-in-law George Foulis. Later (c.1712) inscribed (p. 60) This book is gifted to Mr William Carmichael Be me James Foulis. Some annotations by Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), poet and editor, and by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer and literary editor. Presented in 1772 by John Carmichael, fourth Earl of Hyndford.

Generally cited as the Bannatyne MS. Complete facsimile, introduced by Denton Fox and William A. Ringler, published by the Scolar Press, 1980. Complete text edited in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Discussed in Priscilla Bawcutt, The Contents of the Bannatyne Manuscript: New Sources and Analogues, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 3 (2008), 95-133. A facsimile page in The National Library of Scotland Advocates' Library Notable Accessions up to 1925 (Edinburgh, 1965), Plate 43.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 1.1.6 Vol. II, ff. 298r-302r, 310v-17v, 326v-42v (pp. 645-53, 670-84, 702-34))
The Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian. The Prolog and The Taill of the Cok, and the Jasp

Fox, pp. 3-9. Stevenson, pp. 3-8.

HnR 12

Copy, in double columns, untitled, on the fly-leaves of the volume. Late 15th-early 16th century.

Edited from this MS in Stevenson. Collated in Wood.

A folio volume of lecture notes on logic written in Louvain in 1477 by Magnus Makculloch, clerk to Archbishop William Schevez (d.1497), iii + 202 leaves, imperfect at the end, in modern brown calf gilt.

Chiefly in one professional secretary hand, with some engrossed lettering, in double columns, another hand, one Johannes, possibly John Purde, on pages including ff. iiv-iiir, 86r-7r, 181v, 183v, and 200r-2r.

Owned by David Laing in 1854.

Edinburgh University Library (MS Borl. 205 ff. iiv-iiir)
The Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian. The Taill of the Uponlandis Mous, and the Burges Mous

Fox, pp. 9-19.

HnR 13

Edited from this MS in Craigie, Asloan MS, II, 141-9 (with a facsimile of f. 236r). Collated in Wood.

A quarto formal miscellany of mainly Scottish verse and prose, almost entirely in a single secretary hand, with rubrication, another hand on ff. 137-50 inscribed per M G Myll, with contemporary and later lists of contents, imperfect, lacking a number of pages with poems recorded in the lists of contents, v + 304 leaves, each window mounted in a 19th-century folio guardbook in brown calf gilt.

Compiled by the Edinburgh notary John Asloan (fl. c.1494-c.1532).

c.1515-30

Inscriptions include (ff. 40v, 166v) names of William Muray and William Leslie of Balquhaina; (flyleaf) Alexander Boswel March 1730 [later Lord Auchinleck], R.W. Talbot [later fifth Lord Talbot de Malahide] from J. I Boswell June 29th 1882, and Talbot de Malahide [sixth Lord Talbot de Malahide] James Boswell March 1921. Sold and recovered several times by the Boswell family before passing to the Talbot family. Purchased in 1966.

Commonly cited as the Asloan MS. Complete text edited in Craigie, Asloan MS. Discussed, with a table of contents, in Catherine van Buren, John Asloan and his Manuscript: An Edinburgh Notary and Scribe in the Days of James III, IV and V (c.470-c.1530), in Stewart Style 1513-1542: Essays on the Court of James V, ed. Janet Hadley Williams (East Linton, 1996), 15-51.

National Library of Scotland, other MSS (MS 16500 ff. 236r-40r)
Orpheus and Eurydice ('The nobilnes and grit magnificens')

First published in the Chepman and Myllar Prints (Edinburgh, 1508). Wood, pp. 129-48. Murdoch, IV, 922-42. Ritchie, IV, 182-201. Fox, pp. 132-53.

HnR 14

Copy of a 633-line version, subscribed Finis p mr R H.

Edited from this MS in Wood; in Murdoch; in Ritchie; and in Fox.

A formal anthology of Scottish poetry, including 51 poems presently attributed to William Dunbar, largely in a single secretary hand, with a few later additions in other hands, in two tall folio volumes, with differing series of pagination and foliation, vol. I comprising 192 leaves (paginated 1-385), vol. II comprising 205 leaves (paginated 387-795), all leaves now mounted separately in window mounts, each volume in 19th-century green morocco elaborately gilt.

Compiled by George Bannatyne (b.1545), student of St Andrews and merchant burgess of Edinburgh. Subscribed on the last page finis. / 1568 but probably written over a period of some years.

c.1568

Descending to Bannatyne's son-in-law George Foulis. Later (c.1712) inscribed (p. 60) This book is gifted to Mr William Carmichael Be me James Foulis. Some annotations by Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), poet and editor, and by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer and literary editor. Presented in 1772 by John Carmichael, fourth Earl of Hyndford.

Generally cited as the Bannatyne MS. Complete facsimile, introduced by Denton Fox and William A. Ringler, published by the Scolar Press, 1980. Complete text edited in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Discussed in Priscilla Bawcutt, The Contents of the Bannatyne Manuscript: New Sources and Analogues, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 3 (2008), 95-133. A facsimile page in The National Library of Scotland Advocates' Library Notable Accessions up to 1925 (Edinburgh, 1965), Plate 43.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 1.1.6 Vol. II, ff. 317v-25r (pp. 684-99))
HnR 15

Copy of a 578-line version.

Edited from this MS in Craigie, Asloan MS, II, 155-74. Collated in Wood.

A quarto formal miscellany of mainly Scottish verse and prose, almost entirely in a single secretary hand, with rubrication, another hand on ff. 137-50 inscribed per M G Myll, with contemporary and later lists of contents, imperfect, lacking a number of pages with poems recorded in the lists of contents, v + 304 leaves, each window mounted in a 19th-century folio guardbook in brown calf gilt.

Compiled by the Edinburgh notary John Asloan (fl. c.1494-c.1532).

c.1515-30

Inscriptions include (ff. 40v, 166v) names of William Muray and William Leslie of Balquhaina; (flyleaf) Alexander Boswel March 1730 [later Lord Auchinleck], R.W. Talbot [later fifth Lord Talbot de Malahide] from J. I Boswell June 29th 1882, and Talbot de Malahide [sixth Lord Talbot de Malahide] James Boswell March 1921. Sold and recovered several times by the Boswell family before passing to the Talbot family. Purchased in 1966.

Commonly cited as the Asloan MS. Complete text edited in Craigie, Asloan MS. Discussed, with a table of contents, in Catherine van Buren, John Asloan and his Manuscript: An Edinburgh Notary and Scribe in the Days of James III, IV and V (c.470-c.1530), in Stewart Style 1513-1542: Essays on the Court of James V, ed. Janet Hadley Williams (East Linton, 1996), 15-51.

National Library of Scotland, other MSS (MS 16500 ff. 247r-56v)
The Prais of Aige ('Wythin a garth, under a rede rosere')

First published in the Chepman and Myllar Prints (Edinburgh, 1508). Wood, pp. 185-6. Ritchie, I, 73-4. Fox, pp. 165-7.

HnR 16

Copy, untitled.

Edited from this MS in Ritchie and in Fox. Collated in Wood.

A formal anthology of Scottish poetry, including 51 poems presently attributed to William Dunbar, largely in a single secretary hand, with a few later additions in other hands, in two tall folio volumes, with differing series of pagination and foliation, vol. I comprising 192 leaves (paginated 1-385), vol. II comprising 205 leaves (paginated 387-795), all leaves now mounted separately in window mounts, each volume in 19th-century green morocco elaborately gilt.

Compiled by George Bannatyne (b.1545), student of St Andrews and merchant burgess of Edinburgh. Subscribed on the last page finis. / 1568 but probably written over a period of some years.

c.1568

Descending to Bannatyne's son-in-law George Foulis. Later (c.1712) inscribed (p. 60) This book is gifted to Mr William Carmichael Be me James Foulis. Some annotations by Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), poet and editor, and by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer and literary editor. Presented in 1772 by John Carmichael, fourth Earl of Hyndford.

Generally cited as the Bannatyne MS. Complete facsimile, introduced by Denton Fox and William A. Ringler, published by the Scolar Press, 1980. Complete text edited in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Discussed in Priscilla Bawcutt, The Contents of the Bannatyne Manuscript: New Sources and Analogues, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 3 (2008), 95-133. A facsimile page in The National Library of Scotland Advocates' Library Notable Accessions up to 1925 (Edinburgh, 1965), Plate 43.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 1.1.6 Vol. I, p. 44)
HnR 17

Copy, untitled, subscribed ffinis p Hendersone.

Edited from this MS in Murdoch, II, 155-6; Ritchie, II, 141-2; collated in Wood.

A formal anthology of Scottish poetry, including 51 poems presently attributed to William Dunbar, largely in a single secretary hand, with a few later additions in other hands, in two tall folio volumes, with differing series of pagination and foliation, vol. I comprising 192 leaves (paginated 1-385), vol. II comprising 205 leaves (paginated 387-795), all leaves now mounted separately in window mounts, each volume in 19th-century green morocco elaborately gilt.

Compiled by George Bannatyne (b.1545), student of St Andrews and merchant burgess of Edinburgh. Subscribed on the last page finis. / 1568 but probably written over a period of some years.

c.1568

Descending to Bannatyne's son-in-law George Foulis. Later (c.1712) inscribed (p. 60) This book is gifted to Mr William Carmichael Be me James Foulis. Some annotations by Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), poet and editor, and by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer and literary editor. Presented in 1772 by John Carmichael, fourth Earl of Hyndford.

Generally cited as the Bannatyne MS. Complete facsimile, introduced by Denton Fox and William A. Ringler, published by the Scolar Press, 1980. Complete text edited in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Discussed in Priscilla Bawcutt, The Contents of the Bannatyne Manuscript: New Sources and Analogues, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 3 (2008), 95-133. A facsimile page in The National Library of Scotland Advocates' Library Notable Accessions up to 1925 (Edinburgh, 1965), Plate 43.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 1.1.6 Vol. I, f. 57r-v (pp. 173-4))
HnR 18

Copy, untitled. Late 15th-early 16th century.

Edited from this MS in Stevenson, pp. 15-16. Collated in Wood.

A folio volume of lecture notes on logic written in Louvain in 1477 by Magnus Makculloch, clerk to Archbishop William Schevez (d.1497), iii + 202 leaves, imperfect at the end, in modern brown calf gilt.

Chiefly in one professional secretary hand, with some engrossed lettering, in double columns, another hand, one Johannes, possibly John Purde, on pages including ff. iiv-iiir, 86r-7r, 181v, 183v, and 200r-2r.

Owned by David Laing in 1854.

Edinburgh University Library (MS Borl. 205 f. 87r)
Ane Prayer for the Rest ('O eterne god, of power infinyt')

Wood, pp. 163-5. Ritchie, I. 33-6. Murdoch, II, 61-4. Fox, pp. 167-9.

HnR 19

Copy, untitled.

Edited from this MS in Ritchie and in Fox. Collated in Wood.

A formal anthology of Scottish poetry, including 51 poems presently attributed to William Dunbar, largely in a single secretary hand, with a few later additions in other hands, in two tall folio volumes, with differing series of pagination and foliation, vol. I comprising 192 leaves (paginated 1-385), vol. II comprising 205 leaves (paginated 387-795), all leaves now mounted separately in window mounts, each volume in 19th-century green morocco elaborately gilt.

Compiled by George Bannatyne (b.1545), student of St Andrews and merchant burgess of Edinburgh. Subscribed on the last page finis. / 1568 but probably written over a period of some years.

c.1568

Descending to Bannatyne's son-in-law George Foulis. Later (c.1712) inscribed (p. 60) This book is gifted to Mr William Carmichael Be me James Foulis. Some annotations by Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), poet and editor, and by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer and literary editor. Presented in 1772 by John Carmichael, fourth Earl of Hyndford.

Generally cited as the Bannatyne MS. Complete facsimile, introduced by Denton Fox and William A. Ringler, published by the Scolar Press, 1980. Complete text edited in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Discussed in Priscilla Bawcutt, The Contents of the Bannatyne Manuscript: New Sources and Analogues, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 3 (2008), 95-133. A facsimile page in The National Library of Scotland Advocates' Library Notable Accessions up to 1925 (Edinburgh, 1965), Plate 43.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 1.1.6 Vol. I, pp. 20-2)
HnR 20

Copy, subscribed ffinis [p Henrysone in a different hand].

Edited from this MS in Wood; in Murdoch; in Ritchie; and in Fox.

A formal anthology of Scottish poetry, including 51 poems presently attributed to William Dunbar, largely in a single secretary hand, with a few later additions in other hands, in two tall folio volumes, with differing series of pagination and foliation, vol. I comprising 192 leaves (paginated 1-385), vol. II comprising 205 leaves (paginated 387-795), all leaves now mounted separately in window mounts, each volume in 19th-century green morocco elaborately gilt.

Compiled by George Bannatyne (b.1545), student of St Andrews and merchant burgess of Edinburgh. Subscribed on the last page finis. / 1568 but probably written over a period of some years.

c.1568

Descending to Bannatyne's son-in-law George Foulis. Later (c.1712) inscribed (p. 60) This book is gifted to Mr William Carmichael Be me James Foulis. Some annotations by Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), poet and editor, and by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer and literary editor. Presented in 1772 by John Carmichael, fourth Earl of Hyndford.

Generally cited as the Bannatyne MS. Complete facsimile, introduced by Denton Fox and William A. Ringler, published by the Scolar Press, 1980. Complete text edited in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Discussed in Priscilla Bawcutt, The Contents of the Bannatyne Manuscript: New Sources and Analogues, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 3 (2008), 95-133. A facsimile page in The National Library of Scotland Advocates' Library Notable Accessions up to 1925 (Edinburgh, 1965), Plate 43.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 1.1.6 Vol. I, ff. 24r-5v (pp. 107-10))
The Ressoning betuix Aige and Yowth ('Quhen fair flora, the godes of the flowris')

Wood, pp. 179-80. Ritchie, I, 68-71. Murdoch, II, 149-52. Craigie, I, 200-2. Stevenson, pp. 22-3. Fox, pp. 170-3.

HnR 21

Copy, untitled, subscribed ffinis p Mr robert Henrysone.

Edited from this MS in Ritchie and in Fox. Collated in Wood.

A formal anthology of Scottish poetry, including 51 poems presently attributed to William Dunbar, largely in a single secretary hand, with a few later additions in other hands, in two tall folio volumes, with differing series of pagination and foliation, vol. I comprising 192 leaves (paginated 1-385), vol. II comprising 205 leaves (paginated 387-795), all leaves now mounted separately in window mounts, each volume in 19th-century green morocco elaborately gilt.

Compiled by George Bannatyne (b.1545), student of St Andrews and merchant burgess of Edinburgh. Subscribed on the last page finis. / 1568 but probably written over a period of some years.

c.1568

Descending to Bannatyne's son-in-law George Foulis. Later (c.1712) inscribed (p. 60) This book is gifted to Mr William Carmichael Be me James Foulis. Some annotations by Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), poet and editor, and by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer and literary editor. Presented in 1772 by John Carmichael, fourth Earl of Hyndford.

Generally cited as the Bannatyne MS. Complete facsimile, introduced by Denton Fox and William A. Ringler, published by the Scolar Press, 1980. Complete text edited in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Discussed in Priscilla Bawcutt, The Contents of the Bannatyne Manuscript: New Sources and Analogues, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 3 (2008), 95-133. A facsimile page in The National Library of Scotland Advocates' Library Notable Accessions up to 1925 (Edinburgh, 1965), Plate 43.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 1.1.6 Vol. I, pp. 42-3)
HnR 22

Copy, subscribed ffinis p mr Robert Hendsone.

Edited from this MS in Wood; in Murdoch; in Ritchie, II, 137-9; and in Fox.

A formal anthology of Scottish poetry, including 51 poems presently attributed to William Dunbar, largely in a single secretary hand, with a few later additions in other hands, in two tall folio volumes, with differing series of pagination and foliation, vol. I comprising 192 leaves (paginated 1-385), vol. II comprising 205 leaves (paginated 387-795), all leaves now mounted separately in window mounts, each volume in 19th-century green morocco elaborately gilt.

Compiled by George Bannatyne (b.1545), student of St Andrews and merchant burgess of Edinburgh. Subscribed on the last page finis. / 1568 but probably written over a period of some years.

c.1568

Descending to Bannatyne's son-in-law George Foulis. Later (c.1712) inscribed (p. 60) This book is gifted to Mr William Carmichael Be me James Foulis. Some annotations by Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), poet and editor, and by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer and literary editor. Presented in 1772 by John Carmichael, fourth Earl of Hyndford.

Generally cited as the Bannatyne MS. Complete facsimile, introduced by Denton Fox and William A. Ringler, published by the Scolar Press, 1980. Complete text edited in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Discussed in Priscilla Bawcutt, The Contents of the Bannatyne Manuscript: New Sources and Analogues, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 3 (2008), 95-133. A facsimile page in The National Library of Scotland Advocates' Library Notable Accessions up to 1925 (Edinburgh, 1965), Plate 43.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 1.1.6 Vol. I, ff. 55r-6r (pp. 169-71))
HnR 23

Copy, untitled.

Edited from this MS in Craigie. Collated in Wood and in Fox.

A folio anthology of Scottish poetry, compiled by Sir Richard Maitland (1496-1586), of Lethington, in the hands of several amanuenses, including 63 poems generally attributed to Dunbar, 366 pages.

c.1570-85

Generally cited as the Maitland Folio MS. The complete text edited in Craigie.

A transcript made by John Pinkerton (1758-1826) for his edition of Ancient Scotish Poems, 2 vols (London, 1786), is preserved at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (MS Bell/White 18).

HnR 24

Copy, untitled. 15th-early 16th century.

Edited from this MS in Stevenson. Collated in Wood and in Fox.

A folio volume of lecture notes on logic written in Louvain in 1477 by Magnus Makculloch, clerk to Archbishop William Schevez (d.1497), iii + 202 leaves, imperfect at the end, in modern brown calf gilt.

Chiefly in one professional secretary hand, with some engrossed lettering, in double columns, another hand, one Johannes, possibly John Purde, on pages including ff. iiv-iiir, 86r-7r, 181v, 183v, and 200r-2r.

Owned by David Laing in 1854.

Edinburgh University Library (MS Borl. 205 f. 181v)
The Ressoning betuix Deth and Man ('O mortall man, behold, tak tent to me')

Wood, pp. 211-12. Ritchie, I, 71-3. Murdoch, II, 153-5. Fox, pp. 173-5.

HnR 25

Copy, untitled, subscribed ffinis p Mr R Herisone.

Edited from this MS in Ritchie and in Fox. Collated in Wood.

A formal anthology of Scottish poetry, including 51 poems presently attributed to William Dunbar, largely in a single secretary hand, with a few later additions in other hands, in two tall folio volumes, with differing series of pagination and foliation, vol. I comprising 192 leaves (paginated 1-385), vol. II comprising 205 leaves (paginated 387-795), all leaves now mounted separately in window mounts, each volume in 19th-century green morocco elaborately gilt.

Compiled by George Bannatyne (b.1545), student of St Andrews and merchant burgess of Edinburgh. Subscribed on the last page finis. / 1568 but probably written over a period of some years.

c.1568

Descending to Bannatyne's son-in-law George Foulis. Later (c.1712) inscribed (p. 60) This book is gifted to Mr William Carmichael Be me James Foulis. Some annotations by Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), poet and editor, and by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer and literary editor. Presented in 1772 by John Carmichael, fourth Earl of Hyndford.

Generally cited as the Bannatyne MS. Complete facsimile, introduced by Denton Fox and William A. Ringler, published by the Scolar Press, 1980. Complete text edited in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Discussed in Priscilla Bawcutt, The Contents of the Bannatyne Manuscript: New Sources and Analogues, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 3 (2008), 95-133. A facsimile page in The National Library of Scotland Advocates' Library Notable Accessions up to 1925 (Edinburgh, 1965), Plate 43.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 1.1.6 Vol. I, pp. 43-4)
HnR 26

Copy.

Edited from this MS in Wood; in Murdoch; in Ritchie, II, 139-41; and in Fox.

A formal anthology of Scottish poetry, including 51 poems presently attributed to William Dunbar, largely in a single secretary hand, with a few later additions in other hands, in two tall folio volumes, with differing series of pagination and foliation, vol. I comprising 192 leaves (paginated 1-385), vol. II comprising 205 leaves (paginated 387-795), all leaves now mounted separately in window mounts, each volume in 19th-century green morocco elaborately gilt.

Compiled by George Bannatyne (b.1545), student of St Andrews and merchant burgess of Edinburgh. Subscribed on the last page finis. / 1568 but probably written over a period of some years.

c.1568

Descending to Bannatyne's son-in-law George Foulis. Later (c.1712) inscribed (p. 60) This book is gifted to Mr William Carmichael Be me James Foulis. Some annotations by Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), poet and editor, and by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer and literary editor. Presented in 1772 by John Carmichael, fourth Earl of Hyndford.

Generally cited as the Bannatyne MS. Complete facsimile, introduced by Denton Fox and William A. Ringler, published by the Scolar Press, 1980. Complete text edited in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Discussed in Priscilla Bawcutt, The Contents of the Bannatyne Manuscript: New Sources and Analogues, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 3 (2008), 95-133. A facsimile page in The National Library of Scotland Advocates' Library Notable Accessions up to 1925 (Edinburgh, 1965), Plate 43.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 1.1.6 Vol. I, ff. 56r-7r (pp. 171-3))
Robene and Makyne ('Robene sat on gud grene hill')

Wood, pp. 151-4. Murdoch, IV, 1050-4. Ritchie, IV, 308-12. Fox, pp. 175-9.

HnR 27

Copy, untitled, subscribed p mr robert Henrysone.

Edited from this MS in Wood; in Murdoch; in Ritchie, III, 28-31; and in Fox.

A formal anthology of Scottish poetry, including 51 poems presently attributed to William Dunbar, largely in a single secretary hand, with a few later additions in other hands, in two tall folio volumes, with differing series of pagination and foliation, vol. I comprising 192 leaves (paginated 1-385), vol. II comprising 205 leaves (paginated 387-795), all leaves now mounted separately in window mounts, each volume in 19th-century green morocco elaborately gilt.

Compiled by George Bannatyne (b.1545), student of St Andrews and merchant burgess of Edinburgh. Subscribed on the last page finis. / 1568 but probably written over a period of some years.

c.1568

Descending to Bannatyne's son-in-law George Foulis. Later (c.1712) inscribed (p. 60) This book is gifted to Mr William Carmichael Be me James Foulis. Some annotations by Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), poet and editor, and by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer and literary editor. Presented in 1772 by John Carmichael, fourth Earl of Hyndford.

Generally cited as the Bannatyne MS. Complete facsimile, introduced by Denton Fox and William A. Ringler, published by the Scolar Press, 1980. Complete text edited in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Discussed in Priscilla Bawcutt, The Contents of the Bannatyne Manuscript: New Sources and Analogues, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 3 (2008), 95-133. A facsimile page in The National Library of Scotland Advocates' Library Notable Accessions up to 1925 (Edinburgh, 1965), Plate 43.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 1.1.6 Vol. II, ff. 365r-6v (pp. 779-82))
Sum Practysis of Medecyne ('Guk, guk, gud day, ser, gaip quhill ye get it')

Wood, pp. 157-60. Murdoch, III, 401-4. Ritchie, III, 28-31. Fox, pp. 179-82.

HnR 28

Copy, subscribed p Mr Rot Henrysone.

Edited from this MS in Wood; in Murdoch; in Ritchie; and in Fox.

A formal anthology of Scottish poetry, including 51 poems presently attributed to William Dunbar, largely in a single secretary hand, with a few later additions in other hands, in two tall folio volumes, with differing series of pagination and foliation, vol. I comprising 192 leaves (paginated 1-385), vol. II comprising 205 leaves (paginated 387-795), all leaves now mounted separately in window mounts, each volume in 19th-century green morocco elaborately gilt.

Compiled by George Bannatyne (b.1545), student of St Andrews and merchant burgess of Edinburgh. Subscribed on the last page finis. / 1568 but probably written over a period of some years.

c.1568

Descending to Bannatyne's son-in-law George Foulis. Later (c.1712) inscribed (p. 60) This book is gifted to Mr William Carmichael Be me James Foulis. Some annotations by Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), poet and editor, and by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer and literary editor. Presented in 1772 by John Carmichael, fourth Earl of Hyndford.

Generally cited as the Bannatyne MS. Complete facsimile, introduced by Denton Fox and William A. Ringler, published by the Scolar Press, 1980. Complete text edited in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Discussed in Priscilla Bawcutt, The Contents of the Bannatyne Manuscript: New Sources and Analogues, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 3 (2008), 95-133. A facsimile page in The National Library of Scotland Advocates' Library Notable Accessions up to 1925 (Edinburgh, 1965), Plate 43.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 1.1.6 Vol. I, ff. 141v-2v (pp. 342-4))
The Testament of Cresseid ('Ane doolie sessoun to ane cairfull dyte')

Possibly first published c.1508. First known publication in Workes of Geoffrey Chaucer, ed. William Thynne (London, 1532). Wood, pp. 105-26. Fox, pp. 111-31.

HnR 29

Copy, in an early 17th-century hand, transcribed from the printed edition of 1602, bound (on ff. 121v-8v) with an early 15th-century copy of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseide, 129 folio-size leaves of vellum in all.

Early 17th century

This MS collated in Wood. Recorded in Fox.

St John's College, Cambridge (MS L. 1 (James 235))
HnR 30

Copy of Henryson's Testament of Cresseid (transcribed, with emendations, on pp. 475-509, from the edition of 1598), headed The Sixt & last booke…written by Mr Robert Henderson and called by him The Testament of Criseide, following Chaucer's Troilus and Creseyde, both accompanied stanza for stanza by a Latin verse translation by Sir Francis Kinaston (1587-1642), in a professional hand, xiv + 536 folio leaves in all.

1639-40

Later owned by Henry Aldrich (d.1710), Dean of Christ Church, Oxford; by John Haddon Hindley (his sale 9 March 1793, lot 1215); by Francis Godolphin Waldron (1743-1818), actor and playwright; by S.W. Singer (his sale 3 August 1858, lot 134); and by James Crossley (1800-83), author and book collector (his sale 20 June 1886, lot 2951). Quaritch's sale catalogue No. 369, item 35797. Acquired 10 September 1886.

Edited from this MS in Gregory Smith, I, xcvii-clxii. Collated in Wood. Recorded in Fox.

Bodleian Library, other MSS (MS Add. C. 287)
HnR 31

Copy of the first three stanzas, in a non-professional secretary hand.

This MS recorded in Virgil's Aeneid translated into Scottish Verse by Gavin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld, ed. David F. C. Coldwell, 4 vols, STS (Edinburgh & London, 1951-6), I, 98.

Copy of Gavin Douglas's Aeneid, ii + 301 folio leaves, in red calf gilt (rebacked).

Mid-late 16th century

Inscribed (f. 301v) Partenet Wilhelmo Dno de Ruthven: i.e. owned by William Ruthven (1543?-84), fourth Baron Ruthven and first Earl of Gowrie, magnate and politician, executed for treason. Also inscribed David Schaw and Patrik Drumond. Acquired by Edinburgh College in 1643.

Edinburgh University Library (MS Dc. 1. 43 f. 301v)
HnR 31.5

Copy of one stanza (lines 561-7), headed In bocas þt wes full gwd, on an octavo leaf (p. 92b) in a volume of Gaelic poetry comprising 159 quarto leaves (plus vellum fragments).

The volume compiled by Sir James MacGregor, vicar of Fortingall and titular Dean of Lismore.

c.1512-42

Formerly Gaelic MS XXXVII.

This MS recorded in Fox, pp. xcvi-xcvii.

The Thre Deid Pollis ('O sinfull man, in to this mortall se')

Wood, pp. 205-7. Murdoch, II, 157-9. Ritchie, II, 142-4. Craigie, I, 394-5. Fox, pp. 182-4.

HnR 32

Copy, untitled, subscribed ffinis p patk Johnstoun.

Edited from this MS in Wood; in Murdoch; in Ritchie; and in Fox.

A formal anthology of Scottish poetry, including 51 poems presently attributed to William Dunbar, largely in a single secretary hand, with a few later additions in other hands, in two tall folio volumes, with differing series of pagination and foliation, vol. I comprising 192 leaves (paginated 1-385), vol. II comprising 205 leaves (paginated 387-795), all leaves now mounted separately in window mounts, each volume in 19th-century green morocco elaborately gilt.

Compiled by George Bannatyne (b.1545), student of St Andrews and merchant burgess of Edinburgh. Subscribed on the last page finis. / 1568 but probably written over a period of some years.

c.1568

Descending to Bannatyne's son-in-law George Foulis. Later (c.1712) inscribed (p. 60) This book is gifted to Mr William Carmichael Be me James Foulis. Some annotations by Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), poet and editor, and by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer and literary editor. Presented in 1772 by John Carmichael, fourth Earl of Hyndford.

Generally cited as the Bannatyne MS. Complete facsimile, introduced by Denton Fox and William A. Ringler, published by the Scolar Press, 1980. Complete text edited in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Discussed in Priscilla Bawcutt, The Contents of the Bannatyne Manuscript: New Sources and Analogues, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 3 (2008), 95-133. A facsimile page in The National Library of Scotland Advocates' Library Notable Accessions up to 1925 (Edinburgh, 1965), Plate 43.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 1.1.6 Vol. I, ff. 57v-8v (pp. 174-8))
HnR 33

Copy, untitled.

Edited from this MS in Craigie. Collated in Wood and in Fox.

A folio anthology of Scottish poetry, compiled by Sir Richard Maitland (1496-1586), of Lethington, in the hands of several amanuenses, including 63 poems generally attributed to Dunbar, 366 pages.

c.1570-85

Generally cited as the Maitland Folio MS. The complete text edited in Craigie.

A transcript made by John Pinkerton (1758-1826) for his edition of Ancient Scotish Poems, 2 vols (London, 1786), is preserved at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (MS Bell/White 18).

HnR 34

Copy of the incipit only, here O mortill man, in a musical setting, untitled.

This MS recorded in Wood, p. xxx.

An oblong quarto musical part book, for the Treble voice, the song incipits chiefly in a rounded italic hand, with (ff. 2v-4r) an index, 53 leaves, in 19th-century black calf.

Inscribed (f. 1r), in a secretary hand, Sr William Maur: i.e. Sir William Mure, Bt (d.1639), of Rawallan, Ayrshire, or else his son of that name (1594-1657), writer and politician; (f. 1r) Robert Muire ist my hand; and (f. 2r), in later red ink, Thomas Lyle Surgeon.

c.1600s-20
The Want of Wyse Men ('Me ferlyis of this grete confusioun')

First published in the Chepman and Myllar Prints (Edinburgh, 1508). Wood, pp. 189-91. Murdoch, II, 213-15. Ritchie, II, 195-7.

HnR 35

Copy, untitled, here beginning Me mervellis of this grit Confusioun.

Edited from this MS in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Collated in Wood.

A formal anthology of Scottish poetry, including 51 poems presently attributed to William Dunbar, largely in a single secretary hand, with a few later additions in other hands, in two tall folio volumes, with differing series of pagination and foliation, vol. I comprising 192 leaves (paginated 1-385), vol. II comprising 205 leaves (paginated 387-795), all leaves now mounted separately in window mounts, each volume in 19th-century green morocco elaborately gilt.

Compiled by George Bannatyne (b.1545), student of St Andrews and merchant burgess of Edinburgh. Subscribed on the last page finis. / 1568 but probably written over a period of some years.

c.1568

Descending to Bannatyne's son-in-law George Foulis. Later (c.1712) inscribed (p. 60) This book is gifted to Mr William Carmichael Be me James Foulis. Some annotations by Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), poet and editor, and by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer and literary editor. Presented in 1772 by John Carmichael, fourth Earl of Hyndford.

Generally cited as the Bannatyne MS. Complete facsimile, introduced by Denton Fox and William A. Ringler, published by the Scolar Press, 1980. Complete text edited in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Discussed in Priscilla Bawcutt, The Contents of the Bannatyne Manuscript: New Sources and Analogues, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 3 (2008), 95-133. A facsimile page in The National Library of Scotland Advocates' Library Notable Accessions up to 1925 (Edinburgh, 1965), Plate 43.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 1.1.6 Vol. I, f. 78r-v (pp. 217-18))