The Complaynt of Scotland

The Complaynt of Scotland is a book printed in 1549 and is an important work of the Scots language.

The book is a continuation of the war of words between Scotland and England in the sixteenth century. The so-called "Rough Wooing" of Mary, Queen of Scots, by Henry VIII of England as a wife for his son Edward, which Edward VI continued, had included the publication of books in England asserting the idea of uniting the two countries, with England dominant. The Complaynt was an answer to these works. Another Scottish work, a dialogue similar in outlook, Ane Resonyng, by William Lamb from the same period was abandoned unpublished.^[1]

The Complaynt is anonymous, probably due to its controversial political content, and is variously ascribed to Robert Wedderburn, James Inglis and David Lyndsay,^[2] though the editor of the 1979 Scottish Text Society edition of the work^[3] and the National Library of Scotland^[4] support the Wedderburn attribution. It was once thought to have been among the first books printed in Scotland but it is now believed to have been published in Paris. The contention of a Paris printing is supported by the discovery that the book owes much of its structure, and some of its content, to the Quadrilogue-invectif, a similar political work in part attacking England, by Alain Chartier.^[5] The close ties between Scotland and France at that time, the Auld Alliance, are attested by the fact that the Complaynt is dedicated to Mary of Guise, the effective queen of Scotland of the time, rather than the Governor, Regent Arran.

The book itself, subtitled "wyth ane exortatione to the thre estaits to be vigilante in the deffens of their public veil", is rather a miscellany of stories, ballads and allegorical tales emphasising Scotland's separateness. The English works it was aimed against included the pagan prophecies of Merlin to back up their claim of a united Great Britain, whilst the Complaynt stuck to Christian ideals. In Chapter 10, the author declares the English have more confidence in the Merlin's prophecies than the Gospel;

"the prophesies of merlyne, to the quhilk the inglishmen giffis more confidens nor thai gif to the evangel, be cause that there ald prophane prophesis sais, that ingland and scotland sal be baitht undir ane prince, on this misteous prophesis, thai have intendit weyris contrar scotland, ..."^[6]

The Complaynt is an important source for information on Border ballads and it contains some of the first references to important ballads such as Tam Lin, Froggy would a-wooing go and The Ballad of Chevy Chase. The names of these songs and poems are narrated in the Chapter 6, which is called the. Monologue Recreative. The book is also a significant example of Middle Scots, and the Oxford English Dictionary cites The Complaynt of Scotland as the earliest source for numerous words, including: axis, barbarian, buffoon, cabinet, crackling, decadence, excrement, heroic, humid, imbecile, moo, parallel, robust, suffocation, superb, timid and water-lily. A passage in the Monologue Recreative describes a Scottish warship and its crew and their calls, supplying maritime vocabulary and an insight to seamanship of the period.^[7]

See also

• List of English words of Scots origin

References

1. ^ Lyall, Roderick J., ed (1985). Ane Resonyng. Aberdeen University Press. ISBN 0080303862. 
2. ^ Notes and Queries: Vol. 1 (26) 27 April 1850, page 422
3. ^ Stewart, A. M., ed (1979). The Complaynt of Scotland. Edinburgh: Scottish Text Society. 
4. ^ Betteridge, Robert (Winter 2010). "Tracing 'a notoriously difficult title to acquire'". Discover (Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland) 17: 12. 
5. ^ Stewart, A. M. (1979) pp. xxi-xxiv.
6. ^ "Chapter 10". The Complaynt of Scotlande (1549). EETS. 1872. pp. 84–85. 
7. ^ Murray, James A. H., ed (1872). The Complaynt of Scotland (1549). London: Early English Text Society. pp. 40–42. 

External links

• Text of The Complaynt of Scotland
• The Complaynt of Scotlande, 1549, Early English Text Society, (1872) includes appendix of English works.