William Stewart (makar)

**William Stewart** (c. 1476c. 1548) wis a Scots makar writin in the foremaist hauf o the 16t-centurie.

## Life
William Stewart wis ieroe o yin o Alexander Stewart, Earl o Buchan's luve-bairns. He was eddicated at the Varsity o St. Andras. Destined for the kirk, he later becam a courtier. In 1527 he haudit a pension fae James V o Scotland, and the hindermaist doss (o £40) was recorded in the accounts o 1541. He dee'd afore 1560.

## Works
Stewart wrate a batch o advice poems fur the young James V o Scotland an set ower Hector Boece's Latin *History of Scotland* intae Scots verse. He wis the bard mentioned twice in David Lyndsay's *Complaynt of the Papingo*, an wis mentioned by John Rolland in his prologue tae the *Seven Sages* forby. Thare wur twa students wi his name at St. Andras Varsity at the same time, giein rise tae maybe aye confusions o identity; in the *Buik of Chronicles*, Stewart said he wis thare fur 14 year. Althou it haes forordinar bin guessed Stewart wrate baith the owersettin an the court poems, critic Matthew McDiarmid attributed the settin ower tae the ither William Stewart.

### Court poetry
Some o Stewart's survivin poems descreive life in the Stewart court, an speil on the annoy felt bi courtiers howpin fur ryal favour an reward. This stanza is fae *First Lerges*, (largesse) referring tae 'new yeirday' gifts expected fae the Scots exchequer;The thesaur and compttrollar,Thay bade me cum I wait nocht quhair,And thay suld gar I wait nocht quhay,Gif me I wat nocht quhat full fair,For lerges of this new yeirday.

### Owersettin o Boece
A metrical version o the *Latin History of Scotland* bi Hector Boece wis commissioned either bi James V or his mither Margaret Tudor. The wirk wis published in Latin at Paris in 1527. James requested John Bellenden to set it ower intae Scots prose an Stewart intae Scots verse. Bellenden's version appeared in 1536, bit Stewart's, whilk wis begun in 1531, remained in manuscript til 1858, whin it was published in the Rolls Series; it was edited by William Barclay Turnbull fae a unique manuscript whilk, efter bein in the possession o Hew Craufurd o Cloverhill, Bishop John Moore, an George I, gaed tae Cambridge Varsity Leibrary. Stewart shows a knawledge o the works o John Major, Jean Froissart, an John o Fordun. In pairts he amplified the original.

He gied a prologue; in thare his narrator, Discretion's cuisin, explains that Inglismen destroyed aw the screiven historical records o Scotland thay cuid find in the Scots Wars o Unthirldom in the time o William Wallace. She says that scraps o buiks an memories preserved at Iona Abbey formed Boece's soorce material;Our auld storeis befoir thir mony yeir,Thai war distroyit all with Inglismen,In Wallace weir as it eith to ken;Syne efterwart, quhen that thai wreit the storie,Auld eldaris deidis to put into memorie,Tha maid thair buikis, thair tractatis, and thair tabillis,Part by gues, and part be fenyeit fabillis;Part tha fand in ald broades of bukkis,Part in lous quarris lyand wer in nukkis,* * * * * *Ane abbay sumtyme of authoritie,In Iona yle within the occident se,And in that place thair wes thir storeis fund,Sum in lowss quarris and uther sum weill bund.

## References

## Further readin
* Hadley Williams, Janet, 'Dunbar & his immediate heirs', in Mapstone, Sally, ed., *William Dunbar, The Nobill Poet*, Tuckwell (2001), 93-100, 
* MacDonald, A. A., 'William Stewart and Court Poetry', in Hadley Williams, Janet, ed., *Stewart Style 1513–1542*, Tuckwell (1996), 179–200, 
* Turnbull, William B., ed., ''The Buik of the Chroniclis of Scotland by William Stewart'', 3 vols, Rolls Series, Longman (1858)

**Attribution:**