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

416
APPENDIX.
following Maitland’s account in general, “ can scarcely reconcile the
circumstance ” of Bellenden’s being in 1528 “ a Douglas’s man,” " with
the favour he is found to have enjoyed a few years after with James V.,
whose antipathy to that family was so great as probably to extend
to all its connections.” Irving’s account reappears in the seventh
edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica (1842), and again in the eighth
edition (1854). The only additional surmise is that as " Bale refers
his birth to the eastern part of the kingdom (Bellenden) may have
been born in the county of Haddington or Berwick." Nichol,1 in a
brief critical account, says that Bellenden was “ secretary of the Earl
of Angus, afterwards (1536) Archdeacon of Moray.” Joseph Irving 2
gives a mere summary of Maitland’s account. Ross 3 gives a biography
which is founded on Maitland’s and corrected in part from (David)
Irving; thus, Bellenden is presumed to have recovered the royal
favour “ after the fall of the Douglasses.” Ross states also that the
translation of Boece was " finished in 1533 ” ; and that " after he had
finished his historical works Bellenden was appointed archdeacon of
Moray and canon of Ross.”
The Dictionary of National Biography makes some remarkable state¬
ments. Bellenden’s “ floruit ” is given as 1533-87, on the authority
of a statement of Sibbald’s, which the D.N.B. wrongly attributes to
Maitland. For other assertions no authority is alleged, though their
origin is usually clear. Bellenden "is generally supposed to have
been a native of Haddington or of Berwick.” When returning to
Scotland after taking his degree at the Sorbonne “ he brought over
with him Hector Boece's Historia Scotorum, Paris, 1527, and having
gained access to the court of the young monarch was admitted to
high favour.” " His translation (of Boece’s Chronicles) was delivered
to the king in 1533 and appeared in 1536 ” ; " from various incidental
expressions the folio must have been semi-privately printed for the
king and nobles and special friends ” ; “ his office at court as ' clerk
of his comptis ’ included undoubtedly the superintendence of his
sovereign’s education ” ; " he was appointed archdeacon of Moray
during the vacancy of the see, and about the same time canon of Ross."
With regard to the identity of the Earl of Angus’s secretary in 1528,
the D.N.B. again quotes the statement of Hume. In short, all the less
happy imaginations of Sibbald, Maitland, Irving (of the Encyclopedia
Britannica, 1854), and perhaps Ross, are carefully garnered in the
D.N.B*
The editor of the Abbotsford Series of Scottish Poets5 draws to a
certain extent on the account in the D.N.B.—e.g., " Bellenden is believed
1 A Sketch of Scottish Poetry up to the time of Sir David Lyndesay . .
J. Nichol, preface to The Minor Poems of Sir David Lyndesay (E.E.T.S.
ed. of Lindsay’s Works, Part V.), 1871 (p. xxxiii).
2 The Book of Scotsmen, J. Irving, Paisley, 1881 (p. 27).
3 Scottish History and Literature to the Period of the Reformation,
J. M. Ross, ed. J. Brown, Glasg., 1884 (p. 239 ff.).
4 The same account is given in both 1885- and 1908- edd.
6 Abbotsford Series of the Scottish Poets : Scottish Poetry of the Sixteenth
Century, ed. G. Eyre-Todd, Glasg., 1892 (p. 107 ff.).