WALTER

See also:

• KENNEDY
• KENNEDY, BENJAMIN HALL (1804-1889)
• KENNEDY, THOMAS FRANCIS (1788-1879)
• WALTER KENNEDY (c. 1460–c. 1508)

KENNEDY (c. 1460–c. 1508)  , Scottish poet, was the third son of Gilbert, 1st Lord Kennedy . He matriculatedat Glasgow University in 1475 and took his M.A. degree in 2478 . In 1481 he was one of four examiners in his university, and in 1492 he acted as depute for his nephew, the hereditary bailie of Carrick . He is best known for his share in the Flyting with Dunbar (q.v.) . In this coarse combat of wits Dunbar taunts his rival with his Highland speech (the poem is an expression of Gaelic and " Inglis," i.e . English, antagonism); and implies that he had been involved in treason, and had disguised himself as a beggar in Galloway . With the exception of this share in the Flyting Kennedy's poems are chiefly religious in character . They include The Praise of Aige, Ane Agit Manis Invective against Mouth Thankless, Ane Ballot in Praise of Our Lady, The Passion of Christ and Pious Counsale . They are printed in the rare supplement to David Laing's edition of William Dunbar (1834), and they have been re-edited by Dr J . Schipper in the proceedings of the Kais . Akad. der Wissenschaften (Vienna) . See also the prolegomena in the Scottish Text Society's edition of Dunbar; and (for the life) Pitcairn's edition of the Historie of the Kennedies (1830) .