Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

DOUGLAS, GAVIN (1474?-1522)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 446 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

DOUGLAS, GAVIN (1474?-1522) , Scottish poet and See also:bishop, third son of See also:Archibald, 5th See also:earl of See also:Angus (called the " See also:great earl of Angus " and " See also:Bell-the-See also:Cat "), was See also:born c. 1474, probably at one of his See also:father's seats. He was a student at St See also:Andrews, 1489-1494, and thereafter, it is supposed, at See also:Paris. In 1496 he obtained the living of Monymusk, See also:Aberdeenshire, and later he became See also:parson of See also:Lynton (mod. See also:Linton) and See also:rector of See also:Hauch (mod. Prestonkirk), in See also:East See also:Lothian; and about 1501 was preferred to the deanery or provostship of the collegiate See also:church of St See also:Giles, See also:Edinburgh, which he held with his parochial charges. From this date till the See also:battle of See also:Flodden, in See also:September 1513, he appears to have been occupied with his ecclesiastical duties and See also:literary See also:work. Indeed all the extant writings by which he has earned his See also:place as a poet and translator belong to this See also:period. After the disaster at Flodden he was completely absorbed in public business. Three See also:weeks after the battle he, still See also:provost of St Giles, was admitted a See also:burgess of Edinburgh, his father, the " Great Earl," being then See also:civil provost of the See also:capital. The latter dying soon afterwards (See also:January 1514) in See also:Wigtownshire, where he had gone as See also:justiciar, and his son having been killed at Flodden, the See also:succession See also:fell to Gavin's See also:nephew Archibald (6th earl). The See also:marriage of this youth to See also:James IV.'s widow on the 6th of See also:August 1514 did much to identify the Douglases with the See also:English party in See also:Scotland, as against the See also:French party led by See also:Albany, and incidentally to determine the See also:political career of his See also:uncle Gavin.

During the first weeks of the See also:

queen's sorrow after the battle, Gavin, with one or two colleagues of the See also:council, acted as See also:personal adviser, and it may be taken for granted that he supported the pretensions of the See also:young earl. His own hopes of preferment had been strengthened by the See also:death of many of the higher See also:clergy at Flodden. The first outcome of the new connexion was his See also:appointment to the abbacy of Aberbrothock by the queen See also:regent, before her marriage, probably in See also:June 1514. Soon after the marriage she nominated him See also:archbishop of St Andrews, in succession to See also:Elphinstone, archbishop-designate. But See also:Hepburn, See also:prior of St Andrews, having obtained the See also:vote of the See also:chapter, expelled him, and was himself in turn expelled by See also:Forman, bishop of See also:Moray, who had been nominated by the See also:pope. In the See also:interval, Douglas's rights in Aberbrothock had been transferred to James See also:Beaton, archbishop of See also:Glasgow, and he was now without See also:title or temporality. The See also:breach between the queen's party and Albany's had widened, and the queen's advisers had begun an intrigue with See also:England, to the end that the royal widow and her young son should be removed to See also:Henry's See also:court. In those deliberations Gavin Douglas took an active See also:part, and for this See also:reason stimulated the opposition which successfully thwarted his preferment. In January 1515 on the death of See also:George See also:Brown, bishop of See also:Dunkeld, Douglas's hopes revived. The queen nominated him to the see, which he ultimately obtained, though not without trouble. For the earl of Athole had forced his See also:brother, See also:Andrew See also:Stewart, See also:prebendary of See also:Craig, upon the chapter, and had put him in See also:possession of the bishop's See also:palace. The queen appealed to the pope and was seconded by her brother of England, with the result that the pope's See also:sanction was obtained on the 18th of See also:February 1515.

Some of the See also:

correspondence of Douglas and his See also:friends incident to this transaction was intercepted. When Albany came from See also:France and assumed the regency, these documents and the " See also:purchase " of the bishopric from See also:Rome contrary to See also:statute were made the basis of an attack on Douglas, who was imprisoned in Edinburgh See also:Castle, thereafter in the castle of St Andrews (under the See also:charge of his old opponent, Archbishop Hepburn), and later in the castle of See also:Dunbar, and again in Edinburgh. The pope's intervention procured his See also:release, after nearly a See also:year's imprisonment. The queen meanwhile had retired to England. After See also:July 1516 Douglas appears to have been in possession of his see, and to have patched up a See also:diplomatic See also:peace with Albany. On the 17th of May 1517 the bishop of Dunkeld proceeded with Albany to France to conduct the negotiations which ended in the treaty of See also:Rouen. He was back in Scotland towards the end of June. Albany's longer See also:absence in France permitted the party-See also:faction of the nobles to come to a See also:head in a See also:plot by the earl of See also:Arran to seize the earl of Angus, the queen's See also:husband. The issue of this plot was the well-known fight of " Clear-the-See also:Causeway," in which Gavin Douglas's part stands out in picturesque See also:relief. The See also:triumph over the Hamiltons had an unsettling effect upon the earl of Angus. He made See also:free of the queen's rents and abducted See also:Lord See also:Traquair's daughter. The queen set about to obtain a See also:divorce, and used her See also:influence for the return of Albany as a means of undoing her husband's See also:power.

Albany's arrival in See also:

November 1521, with a large See also:body of French men-at-arms, compelled Angus, with the bishop and others, to flee to the See also:Borders. From this See also:retreat Gavin Douglas was sent by the earl to the English court, to ask for aid against the French party and against the queen, who was reported to be the See also:mistress of the regent. Meanwhile he was deprived of his bishopric, and forced, for safety, to remain in England, where he effected nothing in the interests of his nephew. The See also:declaration of See also:war by England against Scotland, in See also:answer to the See also:recent Franco-Scottish negotiations, prevented his return. His See also:case was further complicated by the libellous animosity of Beaton, archbishop of St Andrews (whose See also:life he had saved in the " Clear-the-Causeway "incident), who was anxious to thwart his See also:election to the archbishopric of St Andrews, now vacant by the death of Forman. In 1522 Douglaswas stricken by the See also:plague which raged in See also:London, and died at the See also:house of his friend Lord Dacre. During the closing years of See also:exile he was on intimate terms with the historian Polydore Vergil, and one of his last acts was to arrange to give Polydore a corrected version of See also:Major's See also:account of Scottish affairs. Douglas was buried in the church of the See also:Savoy, where a monumental See also:brass (removed from its proper site after the See also:fire in 1864) still records his death and interment. Douglas's literary work, now his See also:chief claim to be remembered, belongs, as has been stated, to the period 1501-1513, when he was provost of St Giles. He See also:left four poems. 1. The Palice of See also:Honour, his earliest work, is a piece of the later type of See also:dream-See also:allegory, extending to over 2000 lines in nine-lined stanzas.

In its descriptions of the various courts on their way to the palace, and of the poet's adventures—first, when he incautiously slanders the court of See also:

Venus, and later when after his See also:pardon he joins in the procession and passes to see the glories of the palace—the poem carries on the literary traditions of the courts of love, as shown especially in the " Romaunt of the See also:Rose" and " The Hous of Fame." The poem is dedicated to James IV., not without some See also:lesson in See also:commendation of virtue and honour. No MS. of the poem is extant. The earliest known edition (C. 1553) was printed at London by See also:William See also:Copland; an Edinburgh edition, from the See also:press of Henry Charteris, followed in 1579. From certain indications in the latter and the See also:evidence of some See also:odd leaves discovered by See also:David See also:Laing, it has been concluded that there was an earlier Edinburgh edition, which has been ascribed to See also:Thomas See also:Davidson, printer, and dated c. 1540. 2. See also:King See also:Hart is another example of the later allegory, and, as such, of higher literary merit. Its subject is human life told in the allegory of King See also:Heart in his castle, surrounded by his five servitors (the senses), Queen Plesance, Foresight and other courtiers. The poem runs to over 900 lines and is written in eight-lined stanzas. The See also:text is preserved in the See also:Maitland See also:folio MS. in the Pepysian library, See also:Cambridge. It is not known to have been printed before 1786, when it appeared in See also:Pinkerton's See also:Ancient Scottish Poems.

3. See also:

Conscience is in four seven-lined stanzas. Its subject is the "conceit " that men first clipped away the "See also:con " from "con-See also:science" and left "science" and "na mair." Then they lost. " sci," and had nothing but " ens " (" that schrew, Riches and geir "). 4. Douglas's longest, last, and in some respects most important work is his See also:translation of the Aeneid, the first version of a great classic poet in any English See also:dialect. The work includes the thirteenth See also:book by Mapheus Vegius; and each of the thirteen books is introduced by a See also:prologue. The subjects and styles of these prologues show great variety: some appear to be literary exercises with little or no connexion with the books which they introduce, and were perhaps written earlier and for other purposes. In the first, or See also:general, prologue, Douglas claims a higher position for See also:Virgil than for his See also:master See also:Chaucer, and attacks See also:Caxton for his inadequate rendering of a French translation of the Aeneid. That Douglas undertook this work and that he makes a plea for more accurate scholarship in the translation have been the basis of a prevalent notion that he is a Humanist hi spirit and the first exponent of See also:Renaissance See also:doctrine in Scottish literature. Careful study of the text will not support this view. Douglas is in all important respects even more of a medievalist than his contemporaries; and, like See also:Henryson and Dunbar, strictly a member of the allegorical school and a follower, in the most generous way, of Chaucer's See also:art.

There are several See also:

early See also:MSS. of the Aeneid extant: (a) in the library of Trinity See also:College, Cambridge, c. 1525, (b) the Elphynstoun MS. in the library of the university of Edinburgh, c. 1525, (c) the See also:Ruthven MS. in the same collection, c. 1535, (d) in the library of See also:Lambeth Palace, 1545-1546. The first printed edition appeared in London in 1553. An Edinburgh edition was 'issued from the press of Thomas See also:Ruddiman in 1710. For Douglas's career see, in addition to the public records and general histories, Bishop See also:Sage's Life in Ruddiman's edition, and that by See also:John Small in the first See also:volume of his edition of the See also:Works of Gavin Douglas (4 vols., 1874, the only collected edition of Douglas's works). A new edition of the texts is much to be desired. On Douglas's place in Scottish literature see SCOTLAND: Scottish Literature, also G. See also:Gregory See also:Smith's Transition Period (1900) and chapters in the Cambridge See also:History of English Literature, vol. ii. (1908). P.

See also:

Lange's dissertation Chaucer's Einfluss auf See also:die Originaldichtungen See also:des Schotten Gavin Douglas (See also:Halle, 1882) draws See also:attention to Douglas's indebtedness to Chaucer. Further discussion of the question of Douglas's alleged See also:Humanism will be found in See also:Courthope's History of English See also:Poetry, i. (1895), T. F. See also:Henderson's Scottish See also:Vernacular Literature (1898), and J. H. See also:Millar's Literary History of Scotland (1903). For the See also:language of the poems see G. Gregory Smith's Specimens of See also:Middle Scots (1902). (G. G.

End of Article: DOUGLAS, GAVIN (1474?-1522)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
DOUGLAS 		[next]
DOUGLAS, JOHN (1721—1807.)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries