20 Facts About William Dunbar

William Dunbar was born on 1459 or 1460 – died by 1530 and was a Scottish makar, or a court poet active in the late fifteenth century and the early sixteenth century.

William Dunbar was closely associated with the court of King James IV and produced a large body of work in Scots distinguished by its great variation in themes and literary styles.

William Dunbar was probably a native of East Lothian, as assumed from a satirical reference in The Flyting of Dumbar and Kennedie.

William Dunbar first appears in the historical record in 1474 as a new student or determinant of the Faculty of Arts at the University of St Andrews.

In 1491 and 1492, William Dunbar accompanied an embassy to Denmark and France in an unknown capacity.

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William Dunbar's duties are not recorded; he is referred to only as a or servant; but it is to this period that the bulk of his poetry can be dated.

Several of William Dunbar's poems were included in the Chepman and Myllar prints of 1508, the first books to be printed in Scotland.

William Dunbar's poetry contained a wide variety of subjects, moods and metres.

William Dunbar wrote many devout religious works and noble courtly pieces but he produced comic pieces which often made use of scurrilous elements and uninhibited language.

Some of William Dunbar's poems were clearly commissioned to mark public events.

William Dunbar was an ordained priest of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland and several of his works have religious subject matter.

William Dunbar's poems The Tabill Of Confessioun, Rorate Celi Desuper and Done Is A Battell On The Dragon Blak were included in the "Ballatis of Theologie" section of the Bannatyne Manuscript.

Poems in the tradition of courtly love are represented in William Dunbar's work including a short lyric Sweit Rois of Vertew and the extended allegory The Goldyn Targe.

William Dunbar satirised colleagues of whom he disapproved such as in The Fenyeit Freir of Tungland and he urged the burgesses of Edinburgh to show greater civic pride in To the Merchantis of Edinburgh.

William Dunbar was willing to reveal his personal affairs in his poetry and a number of his works are petitioned to the King asking for personal advancement.

William Dunbar often requested to be appointed to an office in the church, which he refers to as a benefice.

Elsewhere, William Dunbar seemed to reveal other aspects of his private life.

Greater part of William Dunbar's work is occasional—personal and social satire, complaints, orisons and pieces of a humorous character.

Scottish Literary Renaissance in the mid-twentieth century, William Dunbar was a touchstone.

William Dunbar is commemorated in Makars' Court, outside The Writers' Museum, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh.