Blind Harry
Blind Harry , also Blind Hary, Henry the Minstrel, (* around 1440, † 1492 ) was a blind Scottish poet and traveling singer (Minstrel) of the Renaissance and was counted among the Makars .
Little is known about his life. From the court files of Jacob IV. It emerges that he received sums of money as New Year's gifts and most recently in January 1492 a payment for a performance with two Gaelic harpists ( Ersche clareschaw ).
It is not known for certain whether he was blind from birth (as noted by William Dunbar in Lament of the Makers and John Major ), but given his likely military background, he is believed to have become blind later. He performed in noble houses.
He is known for a poem on William Wallace , The Wallace ( The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace ), written around 1477. It expresses anti-English and pro-Scottish sentiments and is probably based on oral tradition, although, according to Blind Harry, it is based on the report of the chaplain to Wallace (Father John Blair), which is presumably apocryphal (no such report is otherwise known). The poem contains historical inaccuracies or freedoms (battles that are not documented anywhere else, a fictional trip to France by Wallace and a campaign to the vicinity of London), and due to its length (11 books, around 11,800 lines of verse) and heterogeneity has been assumed that other authors were involved or that a learned editor was involved. It is preserved in a manuscript from 1488 from the Advocates Library in Edinburgh.
Like other Scottish poets of his day, he was influenced by Geoffrey Chaucer (he wrote in heroic couplets like this one ) and, if he was the sole author of the Wallace poem, apparently knew French and Latin.
The first surviving print was in Edinburgh in 1570, and there have been many other reprints. It is possible that there was a non-preserved print in Edinburgh as early as 1508, which proves the popularity of the poem.
literature
- Elycia Arendt: From Blind Harry to Braveheart: The Evolution of the William Wallace Legend. In: Braveheart and Broomsticks: Essays on Movies, Myths, and Magic. 2002
Work editions
- James Moir (Ed.): The Actis and Deidis of the Illustere and Vailyeand Campioun Schir William Wallace Knicht of Ellerslie by Henry the Minstrel Commonly Known as Blind Harry. Scottish Text Society, William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh 1889
- William Craigie (Ed.): The Actis and Deidis of Schir William Wallace. Scottish Text Society, Scholars' Facsimiles and Reprints, New York 1940.
- Matthew P. McDiarmid (Ed.): Hary's Wallace. Scottish Text Society, William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh, 2 volumes, 1968, 1969
- William Hamilton of Gilbertfield (Ed.): Blind Harry's Wallace. Luath Press Limited, Edinburgh 1998.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Blind Harry |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Blind hary; Henry the Minstrel |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Scottish poet |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1440 |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1492 |