Barbour, JOHN, the father of Scottish poetry and history, regarding whose life but little is on record beyond the production of the national epic, The Brus. Nothing is known of his parentage, and of his birth it can only be conjectured to have been about 1316. The ascertained facts of his life are few. We are informed only that in his own age he was accounted a man of great learning and worth; that he was Archdeacon of Aberdeen as early at least as 1357, and held that office till his death in 1395; that in 1357 he travelled into England, accompanied by three scholars, for the purpose of studying at Oxford; that he repeated his visit to England for the same purpose in 1364; that in 1365 he obtained a passport 'to travel through England with six companions on horseback towards St Denis and other sacred places'; that in 1368 he again received permission to travel through England with two servants and two horses, on his way to France; that in 1373 he was clerk of audit to the household of King Robert II., and one of the auditors of exchequer; that in 1375 his great poem was more than half finished; that in 1377 he had a gratuity of ten pounds from the king; that in 1378 he received a perpetual annuity of twenty shillings, which in 1380 he bequeathed to the dean and chapter of Aberdeen, under the condition that they should sing a yearly mass for the repose of his soul; that in 1381 he had a gift from the crown of the ward of a minor, whose estate lay within the parish of which he was rector; that in 1382, and again in 1384, he was one of the auditors of exchequer; that in 1388 a further pension was granted him of ten pounds a year; and that he died on 13th March 1395, his anniversary in the cathedral of Aberdeen being celebrated on that day until the Reformation. Besides The Brus, Barbour wrote a poem on the Troy legend, represented by a fragment. He is not now believed to be the author of The Book of Legends of the Saints, discovered by Mr Bradshaw in Cambridge University Library. Modelled on the Thebais of Statius, The Brus is distinguished by great purity and clearness of style, the language and versification contrasting advantageously with those of any contemporary English poet, not even Chaucer excepted. Barbour's imagery is not rich, but he is seldom other than lively, simple, and energetic. He has depicted, in rough but faithful outline, the life, manners, and deeds of a truly heroic age, and given to his country the first poem in her literature, and the earliest history of her greatest king.
The Brus, first printed at Edinburgh in 1571, was edited by Dr Jamieson in 1820; by Cosmo Innes, for the Spalding Club, in 1856; by Skeat, for the Early English Text Society, in 1870-77; and by Metcalfe, for the Scottish Text Society, in 1893-94. Of the Legends of the Saints (once attributed to him, and still claimed for him by some; see Athenæum, February 1897) there is an edition by Horstmann (Heilbronn, 1881-82), and one by Metcalfe (Scot. Text Soc., 1887-89).