John Barbour

John Barbour (1320-95) was an early Scottish poet and the first major author to write in Scots. His main surviving work is The Bruce, a verse epic about the life of Robert the Bruce, and a significant historical source.

John Barbour lived between 1330 and 1395. Most of his working life was spent as archdeacon of Aberdeen, and the poem was written in 1375 in the reign of Robert II. He is thus a rough contemporary of Chaucer, but his verse chronicle falls rather more into the tradition of Froissart and the other great chroniclers of the age of chivalry. The language of the poem is Scots at an early stage of development. The range of imagery and references provides an insight into the medieval mind. The editor A.A.M. Duncan is the author of “The Making of the Kingdom”.