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The Contemplacioun of Synnaris, by the Observant Franciscan William Touris, written c.1494 and evidently intended for King James IV of Scotland, is a significant and much copied work of Older Scots, although the earliest surviving witness is the English print by Wynkyn de Worde (1499).
The Contemplacioun was the very first work of Older Scots literature to be translated and to be printed. The poem’s seven sections comprise a course of meditations for Holy Week. Richard Fox, bishop of Durham, commissioned the English print, in which the stanzas were preceded by Latin sententiae, biblical, medieval and ancient. The work retained sufficient interest to re-emerge in separate versions in both Scotland (1568) and England (1578), drastically revised for Protestant readers.
The Contemplacioun was the very first work of Older Scots literature to be translated and to be printed. The poem’s seven sections comprise a course of meditations for Holy Week. Richard Fox, bishop of Durham, commissioned the English print, in which the stanzas were preceded by Latin sententiae, biblical, medieval and ancient. The work retained sufficient interest to re-emerge in separate versions in both Scotland (1568) and England (1578), drastically revised for Protestant readers.
Price: $152.00
Pages: 456
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Series: Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions
Publication Date:
25 May 2022
ISBN: 9789004256965
Format: Hardcover
Alasdair A. MacDonald Ph.D. (1978, University of Edinburgh) is emeritus professor of English Language and Literature of the Middle Ages, University of Groningen. He has published widely on late-medieval and early modern literature.
J. Craig McDonald, Ph.D. (1981, University of York) is emeritus professor of English at King University, Tennessee. He has published on Robert Henryson and John Ireland’s Meroure of Wyssdome.
J. Craig McDonald, Ph.D. (1981, University of York) is emeritus professor of English at King University, Tennessee. He has published on Robert Henryson and John Ireland’s Meroure of Wyssdome.