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WEDDERBURN, JAMES (1495?-1533), JOHN ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 465 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WEDDERBURN, See also:JAMES (1495?-1533), See also:JOHN (1500-1556) and See also:ROBERT (1510?—?1556), Scottish poets and religious re-formers, were natives of See also:Dundee, where their See also:father James Wedderburn was a prosperous See also:merchant. All three .See also:brothers studied at St See also:Andrews University. James Wedderburn, who had gone to St Andrews in 1514, was for a See also:time in See also:France preparing for a See also:mercantile career. On his return to Dundee in 1514 he received instruction in the Reformed faith from See also:Friar Hewat, a Dominican See also:monk. He composed a See also:play on the See also:beheading of St John the Baptist, and another, a morality satirizing See also:church abuses, in the setting of episodes from the See also:story of See also:Dionysius the See also:Tyrant, both of which were performed in 1540 in the play-See also:field of Dundee. Neither of these nor a third ascribed to him by See also:Calderwood, the historian, are extant. A See also:charge cf See also:heresy was brought against him, but he escaped to France, and established himself as a merchant at See also:Rouen or See also:Dieppe, where he lived unmolested until his See also:death in 1553, although attempts were made by the Scottish community there to bring further charges against him. John Wedderburn graduated M.A. at St Andrews in 1528. He took priests' orders and appears to have held the chaplaincy of St See also:Matthews, Dundee, but in See also:March 1539 he was accused of heresy, apparently for having, in See also:conjunction with his brothers, written some See also:anti-See also:Catholic See also:ballads. He escaped to See also:Wittenberg, where with other of his compatriots he received the teaching of the See also:German reformers. There he gained an acquaintance with the Lutheran See also:hymns, which he turned to See also:account on his return to See also:Scotland. The death of James V. and the known leanings of the See also:regent, the See also:earl of See also:Arran, to reform, encouraged many exiles, Wedderburn among them, to revisit Scotland.

It is probable that he was the author of the greater portion of the Compendious See also:

Book of See also:Psalms and Spiritual Songs which contains a large number of hymns from the German. The enormous See also:influence of the collection, with its added See also:Gude and Godlie Ballatis, on Scottish reform, is attested by the penalties enacted against the authors and printers of these books. John Wedderburn was in Dundee as See also:late as 1546, when he was obliged to flee to See also:England. John See also:Johnston in his Coronis martyrum says he died in See also:exile in 1556. Robert Wedderburn, who graduated M.A. in 1530, was ordained See also:priest, and succeeded his See also:uncle John See also:Barry as See also:vicar of Dundee; but before he came into actual See also:possession he also was suspected of heresy, and was compelled to flee to France and See also:Germany. He returned to Scotland in 1546. He appears to have been actual vicar of Dundee in 1552. His sons were legitimized in See also:January 1553. The earliest known edition of the Compendious Book of Psalms and Spiritual Songs (of which an unique copy is extant) See also:dates back to 1567, though the contents were probably published in broad sheets during John Wedderburn's lifetime. It consists of a See also:calendar and See also:almanac, a See also:catechism, hymns, many of them See also:translations from the German, metrical versions of the Psalms, and a collection of ballads and satirical poems against the Catholic church and See also:clergy. The See also:separate shares of the brothers in this compilation cannot be settled, but Robert is said to have edited the whole and added the See also:section of " gude and godlie ballatis." Many of these ballads are adapted from See also:secular songs. See also:Editions of the book appeared in 1578 (printed by Johri See also:Ros), in 1600 (by Robert See also:Smith), in 1621 (by Andro See also:Hart) ; selections were published by See also:Lord See also:Hailes (1765) and by See also:Sibbald (1802) ; a reprint of the 1621 See also:volume was edited by See also:Sir J.

G. See also:

Dalyell in Scotish Poems of the Sixteenth See also:Century (18o1); and of the 1578 volume by See also:David See also:Laing in 1868. In 1897 See also:Professor A. F. See also:Mitchell reprinted the 1567 volume (expurgated) for the Scottish See also:Text Society. Vedderburn's " Complainte of Scotlande (1549) has been variously assigned to Robert Wedderburn, to Sir David See also:Lyndsay and to Sir James See also:Inglis, who was See also:chaplain of the See also:Abbey of Cambuskenneth from about 1508 to 155o. It is a See also:prose See also:treatise See also:pleading for the See also:maintenance of the Scottish See also:alliance with France, written by a determined enemy of England and of the See also:English party in Scotland. It is dedicated to See also:Mary of See also:Guise, and consists of the " Dreme " of See also:Dame See also:Scotia and her complaint against her three sons. These two sections are connected by a " See also:Monologue Recreatif," in which the author displays his See also:general knowledge of popular songs, dances and tales, of See also:astronomy, natural See also:history and See also:naval matters. Four copies of this See also:work are extant, but in none is the See also:title-See also:page preserved. In the Harleian See also:catalogue the book is entered as Vedderburn's See also:Coin plainte of Scotlande, wyth ane Exortatione to the thre Estaits to be vigilante in the Deffens of their Public See also:Veil (1549) (Catalogus Bibliothecae Flarleianae, vol. i. no. 8371).

This title, which is repeated with See also:

variations in spelling in vol. iv. no. 12070, bears every See also:mark of authenticity. The book appears to have been printed in France, and the See also:idea of Dame Scotia's exhortations to her sons, the Three Estates, is borrowed from Alain See also:Chartier's Quadrilogue invectif, some passages of which are appropriated outright. Other passages are borrowings from Octavien de See also:Saint Gelais and Sir David Lyndsay. There are strong arguments against Robert Wedderburn's authorship, as maintained by Laing and others. It is not likely that he would write in support of See also:Cardinal See also:Beaton's policy, and the See also:dialect is an exaggerated See also:form of Latinized See also:Middle Scots, differing materially from the See also:language of the Compendious Book. Some of the orthographical and typographical peculiarities are due to the fact that the book was set up by Parisian printers. Sir J. A. H. See also:Murray inclines to assign it to Sir James Inglis, or an unknown priest of the name of Wedderburn. The text of the See also:Corn playnt was first edited by See also:Leyden in 1801.

Murray's edition for the E.E.T.S. appeared in 1872. The introduction to the latter requires revision in the See also:

light of later discoveries as to the plagiarisms in the text. See the See also:paper by W. A. See also:Neilson in The See also:Journal of Germanic See also:Philology (iv.), the See also:note by W. A. See also:Craigie in The See also:Modern Quarterly of Language and Literature (i. 267), See also:Gregory Smith's Specimens of Middle Scots (1902), p. 135 at seq., and the See also:article by J. T. T. See also:Brown in the Scoitish See also:Historical See also:Review (January 1904).

End of Article: WEDDERBURN, JAMES (1495?-1533), JOHN (1500-1556)

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