Scottish Text Society publications > Third series > Chronicles of Scotland > Volume 2, 1941

APPENDIX.
4*5
Auchnoull. He makes no new contribution to the sum of facts or
theories. Stark, in his Biographia Scotica,1 apart from the statement
that Bellenden died at Rome in 1550, gives only vague, if unexception¬
able, generalities.
Maitland, in his edition of Bellenden’s Boece? gives an elaborate
biographical preface, in which he adduces several new facts. He quotes
an entry from the matriculation rolls of St Andrews University—
“ 1508. Jo. Balletyn. nac. Lau(doniae) ” ; quotes two entries from the
Acts of Parliament for 4th September 1528, from which “ there is
some reason to suppose that about the year 1528 Bellenden held the
situation of secretary to the Earl of Angus ” ; “ Bellenden in all likeli¬
hood shared at first in the disgrace of the family of Douglas, and this
was probably the dismissal to which he alludes in the Proheme of the
Cosmographe.” Entries from the Lord Treasurer's Accounts are quoted,
showing that the translation of the Boece was completed in 1531, and
a " manuscript copy ” delivered to the King in 1533 ; and that about
the same period (i.e., 1533) the translation of the first five books of
Livy was carried out. Entries from the Register of the Privy Seal
are quoted to show that Bellenden was granted the emoluments of
the benefices of Sir John Duncanson, parson and " chanter ” of Glasgow,
and Sir Alexander Hervy for the years 1536 and 1537. Maitland then
says “ (Bellenden) was afterwards presented by the King to the vacant
Archdeanery of Moray, and he got a prebend in the Cathedral of Ross,
but the date of these appointments is uncertain.” He concludes his
account by a fusion of the statements of Bale, Con, and Dempster as
to Bellenden’s orthodoxy and death at Rome.
Irving, in his 1839 edition of the Scotish Writers,3 incorporates all
the facts brought forward by Maitland, but rejects Maitland’s theory
that Bellenden was " associated with (Sir David Lindsay) in directing
the studies of his prince,” for, as he notes, James V.’s preceptor was
Gavin Dunbar, and there is no mention of Bellenden’s having been
employed in such a capacity. Irving also disputes the identification
of the poet with the John Bellenden who was secretary to the Earl
of Angus in 1528—" in a transaction of this nature we should expect
to find (Angus) employing a lawyer rather than a clergyman ” ; and
quotes the statement of Hume 4 to the effect that the secretary was
Sir John Bellenden of Auchnoull. Chambers’s Dictionary 5 also, while
1 Biographia Scotica, J. Stark, Edin., 1805 (art. Ballenden).
2 The Works of John Bellenden, Archdean of Moray and Canon of
Ross : The History and Chronicles of Scotland . . ., T. Maitland, Lord
Dundrennan, Edin., 1821-22 (Vol. I., p. xxxvi ff.).
3 Lives of Scotish Writers, D. Irving, Edin., 1839 (Vol. I., p. 12 ff.).
Except for quotations, the account in the 1861 ed. (The History of
Scottish Poetry) is exactly similar.
4 The History of the Houses of Douglas and Angus, written by Maister
David Hume of Godscroft, Edin., 1644 (p. 258). Other edd., 1648, 1743,
I748-
6 A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen, ed. R. Chambers,
Glasg., 1835 (Vol.L.p. inf.). So also in later edd.—1855,1856,1868-70,
1875-