View source for Blind Harry

{{Short description|Scottish author of the poem The Wallace}}
{{more footnotes|date=August 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{infobox person
|name = Blind Harry
|birth_date = {{circa}} 1440
|death_date = 1492 (aged c. 50)
|occupation = minstrel
|notable_works = ''The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace''
|years_active = c. 1470–1492 }}
[[File:Blind Harry by Alexander Stoddart.JPG|thumb|Blind Harry by [[Alexander Stoddart]]]]

'''Blind Harry''' ({{circa}} 1440 – 1492), also known as '''Harry''', '''Hary''' or '''Henry the Minstrel''', is renowned as the author of ''The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace'', more commonly known as ''[[The Wallace (poem)|The Wallace]]''. This is a lengthy poem recounting the life of [[William Wallace]], the Scottish independence leader, written around 1477, 172 years after Wallace's death.

==Biography==
Little is known about Blind Harry's life. One source is the [[Lord High Treasurer]]'s accounts of 1473–1492, which recorded payments to him for performances at the court of [[James IV of Scotland|James IV]]. Blind Harry was given gifts of money by the King at New Year, as were other minor courtiers, but a payment on 2 January 1492 seems to relate to the singing of a ballad accompanied by two Gaelic harpers, "[[Gàidhealtachd|Ersche]] [[Clarsach|clareschaw]]", mentioned in adjacent entries. This is the last mention of Harry in the accounts.<ref>''Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland'', vol. 1 (1877), 184.</ref>

He is mentioned by [[William Dunbar]] on line 69 of his ''Lament for the Makeris'' early in the 16th century. Historian [[John Major (philosopher)|John Major]] also wrote about Harry in 1518.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}} These sources differed on whether or not he was blind from birth, but Harry almost certainly{{vague|date=August 2021}}{{dubious|date=August 2021}} seems to have had a military background.

==''Acts and Deeds''==
{{original research|section|date=August 2021}}

===Sources===
Blind Harry claimed his work was based on a book by Father John Blair, Wallace's boyhood friend and personal [[chaplain]]. This book has not been seen in modern times and may never have existed; the poet's attribution of his story to a written [[text (literary theory)|text]] may have been a literary device; many contemporary critics believe that ''Acts and Deeds'' is based on [[oral history]] and the national [[tradition]]s of Blind Harry's homeland.

Most historians nowadays regard ''Acts and Deeds'' as a versified [[historical novel]], written at a time of strong anti-English sentiment in Scotland. At twelve volumes, the work is also doubted to be solely his work. Elspeth King maintained that despite any inaccuracies, Harry's patriotic and nationalistic portrayal was to ensure Wallace's continuing reputation as a hero. [[Robert Burns]] acknowledged his debt to Harry, paraphrasing the following lines from Harry's ''Wallace'' in his own poem [[Scots Wha Hae|Robert Bruce's Address to his Army at Bannockburn]] (Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled):<br />
<blockquote>A false usurper sinks in every foe<br />
And liberty returns with every blow</blockquote>
which Burns described as "a [[couplet]] worthy of [[Homer]]".

The earliest version of the work is found in a manuscript written in 1488 by John Ramsay, the purported scribe of [[John Barbour (poet)|John Barbour's]] narrative poem ''[[The Brus]]''. The manuscript is found at the [[National Library of Scotland]] in [[Edinburgh]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Oxford Companion to English Literature|editor-first=Margaret|editor-last=Drabble|year=1985|page=453}}</ref>

===Criticism===
Harry's depiction of Wallace has been criticised by Major and others as being fictionalized. Some parts of it are at variance with contemporary sources, ''e.g.'', the work describes Wallace leading an army to the outskirts of London, and it includes some episodes of doubtful accuracy before Wallace enters history with the [[action at Lanark]]. It also describes him adopting the disguises of a monk, an old woman, and a potter while a fugitive, and travelling to France to enlist support for the Scottish cause, there defeating two French champions, as well as a lion.  "Are there any more dogs you would have slain?", Wallace asks the French king.

Harry is often considered inferior to [[John Barbour (poet)|Barbour]] as a poet, and has little of his moral elevation, but he surpasses him in graphic power, vividness of description, and variety of incident. He occasionally shows the influence of [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer]], and is said to have known Latin and French.

Blind Harry's words were made more accessible by a translation written by [[William Hamilton of Gilbertfield]] (c. 1665–1751) published in 1722. In this form they met the notice of poets such as [[Robert Burns]], [[Lord Byron]], [[Robert Southey]], [[John Keats]], [[Joanna Baillie]], and [[William Wordsworth]]. It was also an important source for [[Randall Wallace]] in his writing of the screenplay of ''[[Braveheart]]'', the award-winning Hollywood film.<ref name = anderson>Anderson, Lin. ''Braveheart: From Hollywood to Holyrood''. Luath Press Ltd. (2005), p.&nbsp;27.</ref> Most recently, in 1998, Elspeth King published Hamilton's text amended for modern readers as ''Blind Harry's Wallace''.

===Wallace folklore===
Blind Harry mentions a number of battles or skirmishes fought by Wallace which are now regarded by historians as unhistorical.  These battles are sometimes referenced as historical events by accounts which do not cross-check the stories in ''Acts and Deeds'' against another source.  Dubious battles include the "Battle of [[Loudoun Hill]]" in 1296, the "Battle of [[Biggar, South Lanarkshire|Biggar]]" in 1297, and possibly also the "Battle of Elcho Park". In the case of the folkloric Battle of Loudoun Hill, later [[enthusiast]]s have erected a monument to Wallace at the site. (The folkloric battle should not be confused with the genuine [[Battle of Loudoun Hill]] fought by [[Robert the Bruce]].) Similarly, the story of a [[Barns of Ayr|mass hanging of Scots nobles]] at Ayr is described by Blind Harry, and is repeated in a number of places, including the film ''[[Braveheart]]'', but is now regarded as unhistorical.

==Footnotes==
{{wikisource author}}
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature|wstitle=Blind Harry or Henry The Minstrel}}
*''Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain'' (London: The Reader's Digest Association, 1973), 520.
*''Blind Harry's Wallace'' translated by William Hamilton, introduction by Elspeth King (Edinburgh: Luath Press, 1998). {{ISBN|0-946487-33-2}}.
*''The Wallace'' Anne McKim (editor) (Canongate Classics, 2003)

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|title=A compendious history of English literature and of the English language|url=https://archive.org/details/acompendioushis03craigoog|author=George Lillie Craik|year=1861|chapter=Henry the Minstrel|pages=[https://archive.org/details/acompendioushis03craigoog/page/n403 385]–390|location=London|publisher=Griffin, Bohn, and company}}
* {{cite Q|Q108002017}}<!-- Blind Harry's ''Wallace'' -->
* {{cite book|title=Braveheart and Broomsticks: Essays on Movies, Myths, and Magic|author=Elycia Arendt|publisher=Buy Books on the web|year=2002|isbn=0-7414-1233-0|chapter=From Blind Harry to ''Braveheart'': The Evolution of the William Wallace Legend|given13=9780741412331}}
*{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Harry the Minstrel |volume=13 |page=29}}

==External links==
* {{Gutenberg author|id=45423}}

{{Scots makars}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Blind Harry}}
[[Category:Scottish blind people]]
[[Category:Wars of Scottish Independence]]
[[Category:15th-century Scottish historians]]
[[Category:Scottish soldiers]]
[[Category:Writers from Edinburgh]]
[[Category:1440s births]]
[[Category:1492 deaths]]
[[Category:15th-century Scottish poets]]
[[Category:Court of James IV of Scotland]]
[[Category:Scots-language writers]]
[[Category:Middle Scots poets]]