Online Encyclopedia

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

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

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 465 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

JAMES See also:WEDDERBURN (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 See also:James See also: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 See also: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) .

Phoenix-squares

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: JAMES WEDDERBURN (1495?-1533), JOHN (1500-1556)
[back]
GEORG RUDOLF WECKHERLIN (1584—1653)
[next]
WEDDING

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." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.