Alexander Montgomerie or Montgomery (?1556-1611?) was a Scottish poet, or makar, and courtier in the court of James VI.[1]
Hessilhead Castle, Ayrshire, birthplace of Alexander Montgomerie (?1556-1611?); from The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Centuries, 1887. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Life[]
Overview[]
Montgomerie was a principal member of the Castalian Band, a circle of poets in the 1580s which included the king himself, and for a time among the king's "favourites". He was a Catholic in a largely Protestant court, and his involvement in political controversy led to his expulsion as an outlaw in the mid 1590s. Montgomerie's poetry, much of which examines themes of love, includes autobiographical sonnets and foreshadows the later metaphysical poets in England. He is sometimes, by tradition, given the epithet "Captain".
Family[]
Montgomerie was the 2nd son of Hugh Montgomerie of Hessilhead Castle, Ayrshire (Timothy Pont, Topography of Cunningham, Maitland Club, 19). His father was a kinsman of the Eglinton family (G.S. Montgomery, Hist. of Montgomery of Ballyleek, p. 115). His mother was a daughter of Houston of Houston. A sister Elizabeth became the wife of Sir William Mure of Rowallan, father of Sir William Mure The eldest brother, John, succeeded to Hessilhead.[2]
A younger brother, Robert (died 1609) was bishop or archbishop of Glasgow, from 1581 until his resignation of the see in 1587.[3]
Youth and education[]
Montgomerie was, according to one of his poems, born "on Bister day at morne," probably in 1556.[2]
His poems show that he received a scholarly training in youth. If a statement by Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth, his antagonist in the Flyting, is reliable, he must have been sent to Argyleshire for a part of his education (Flyting, 11. 183, 184). The circumstance may account for his being called by Dempster Eques Montanus, an expression probably equivalent to "highland trooper."[2]
On his return from Argyleshire he appears to have resided for a time at Compston Castle, a little way above Kirkcudbright, near the junction of the Dee and the Tarff. Andrew Symson, in his Large Description of Galloway (MS. Adv. Lib.}, drawn up in 1684 and enlarged in 1692, mentions a report current in his day to the effect that Montgomerie's fancy had been quickened by the romantic scenery of the Dee when he composed The Cherrie and the Slae. Symson's statement is supported by Robert Sempill, Montgomerie's contemporary, who, in The Legend of the Bischop of St. Androis Lyfe, calls him Captain Kirkburne, in obvious allusion to his residence in the stewartry.[2]
Courtier[]
Montgomerie soon obtained an introduction to the Scottish court. In 1577 he was in the suite of the Regent Morton, on whose compulsory resignation in the following year he was retained in the king's service. His official duties apparently entitled him to the style of captain, and he also became the laureate of the court. The king, in his Revlis and Cavtelis of Scottis Poesie, recognised his abilities by quoting passages from his poems as examples of different kinds of verse.[2]
He married and had 2 children, Alexander and Margaret. The latter in March 1622 was tried for witchcraft (Montgomery, p. 117).[2]
In 1586 he obtained a royal license to leave the kingdom for 5 years, and to visit France, Flanders, Spain, and other countries. During his travels he was confined in a foreign prison, and his pension was withheld, an act which led to a protracted lawsuit in the court of session. Eventually the grant was renewed and confirmed by a writ of privy seal dated at Holyrood House 21 March 1588-9.[2]
Dempster says he died in 1591, bewailed by his sovereign, who was charmed with the effusions of his mirthful muse. But at least 2 pieces by Montgomerie refer to events that took place in 1592, and we have no reason to doubt that he was alive in 1605, when his Mindes Melodie was printed by Robert Charteris. His death occurred, however, before 1615, as on the title-page of the edition of The Cherrie and the Slae, printed by Andro Hart in that year, the poem is said to have undergone careful revision by the author not long before his death.[2]
Writing[]
Montgomerie occupies a conspicuous place in the poetical literature of Scotland during a period almost barren of poetic genius.[2] He stands apart from the courtier-poets Aytoun, Stirling, and others, who write in the literary English of the South. He carries on the Middle Scots tradition, and was not without influence in the vernacular revival, in Allan Ramsay and his successors.[3]
Montgornerie's chief poem is The Cherry and the Slae, originally printed in 1597 (2 impressions).[3] The poem, which has long been popular with his countrymen, is written in a 14-line stanza, of which, if Montgomerie was not the inventor, he is certainly the greatest master.[2]
The poem is a confused allegory - the confusion being due to the fact that sections of the poem were written at different times - on Youth's choice between a richly laden cherry-tree on a high crag and a sloe "bush" at his feet.[3] The opening portion is a love-piece, obviously written at an earlier date than the rest of the poem; the remainder, which in the 1st and 2nd editions ended in the middle of the 77th stanza, and was afterwards extended to 114 stanzas, is a moral allegory, in which Virtue is represented by the cherry and Vice by the sloe. The poem contains many passages of singular freshness and beauty, and bristles with homely proverbs pithily and tersely put.[4]
The Cherrie and the Slae was frequently reprinted in the 17th and 18th centuries.[3] The 1st edition was printed by Robert Waldegraue in 1597 (no copy extant); 2nd edition, same year (copy in the Advocates' Library, Edinb.); by Andro Hart, 1615 (no copy extant); in Allan Ramsay's 'Evergreen,' 1724; Foulis, Glasgow, 1746 and 1751; Urie, Glasgow, 1754. A spirited Latin version by Dempster — Cerasum et Silvestre Prunum — appeared in 1631.[4]
The Flyting betwixt Montgomery and Polwart was originally published by Andro Hart in 1621 (the only known copy was in the Harleian Library at its dispersion, but all trace of it has been lost): another edition, by 'The Heires of Andro Hart,' was dated 1629. The Flyting belongs to a species of composition scurrilous and vituperative in the extreme, but much relished by the Scots of the 16th century. It is an imitation of The Flyting' of Dunbar and Kennedie, and quite as coarse and abusive. A portion of it was quoted in King James's Revlis and Cavtelis of Scottis Poesie in 1584.[4]
The sonnets are valuable for the light they throw on the poet's life and character. Those in praise of the king are marred by flattery and cringing servility; a few that owe their origin to his vexatious lawsuit are unspeakably bitter; others, addressed to friends, are models of good taste and feeling. The miscellaneous poems are cast in a great variety of measures, and are largely amatory.[4]
2 pieces, "The Navigatioun" and "A Cartell of thre ventrous Knichts," are noteworthy as pageants written in Montgomerie's capacity of court poet. They were evidently composed on the occasion of the king's "first and magnificent entry" into Edinburgh in 1579, when he assumed the reins of government.[4]
The Mindes Melodie (Edinburgh: Robert Charteris, 1605) a version of 15n of the psalms, Simeon's song, and "Gloria Patri." was among his last works.[4]
Other poems are found in the following manuscripts: The Drummond MS. in the university of Edinburgh has 70 sonnets and many miscellaneous and devotional poems; the Bannatyne MS. in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, has 7 smaller poems.[4]
The Maitland MS. in the Pepysian Library, Magdalene College, Cambridge, has poems on Lady Margaret Montgomerie and "The Bankis of Helicon," which have been doubtfully attributed to Montgomerie.[4]
The earliest complete collection of Montgomerie's works, with a biographical sketch by Dr. Irving, was issued under Dr. Laing's supervision in 1821.[4]
Critical reputation[]
The formal value of Montgomerie's verse was fittingly acknowledged by James VI in his early critical essay Ane Schort Treatise conteining some reulis and cautelis to be observit and eschewit in Scattis Poesie, where the author makes 3 quotations from Montgomerie's poems, then in circulation in manuscript.[3]
Recognition[]
King James rewarded Montgomerie's services with a pension of 500 marks, payable from certain rents of the archbishopric of Glasgow. The date of this grant is not known, but it was confirmed in 1583, when payment was to be computed from the previous year.[2]
Montgomerie's poem "The Night is Near Gone" was included in the Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900.[5]
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- The Cherrie and the Slae; composed into Scottis meeter Edinburgh: Robert Waldegrave, 1597.
- The Mindes Melodie. Edinburgh: Robert Charteris, 1605.
- The Flyting betwixt Montgomery and Polwart. Edinburgh: Heires of Andro Hart, 1629.
- Poems (edited by David Irving). Edinburgh: 1821.
- Poems (edited by James Cranstoun). Edinburgh: Blackwood, for the Scottish Text Society, 1887.
- A selection from his songs and poems (edited with introduction by Helena M. Shire). Oliver & Boyd, for the Saltire Society, 1960.
- Poems (edited by David Parkinson). Edinburgh: Scottish Text Society, 2000.
Audio/video[]
- Thus Spak Apollo Myne: The songs of Alexander Montgomerie. Paul Rendall (tenor) and Rob MacKillop (lute). Gaudeamus CD GAU 249
See also[]
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References[]
Cranstoun, James (1894) "Montgomerie, Alexander (1556?-1610?)" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 38 London: Smith, Elder, pp. 297-298 . Wikisource, Web, Feb. 25, 2018.- Jack, R.D.S., Alexander Montgomerie, Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh (1985)
- Lyall, Roderick J., Alexander Montgomerie: Poetry, politics, and cultural change in Jacobean Scotland, Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, (2005)
- Shire, Helena Mennie, Song, Dance and Poetry of the Court of Scotland under King James VI, Cambridge University Press, (1969)
Notes[]
- ↑ Alexander Montgomerie, Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. Web, Feb. 25, 2018.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Cranstoun, 297.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 George Gregory Smith, Montgomerie, Alexander. Encyclopædia Britannica 1911, 18, 783. Wikisource, Web, Feb. 25, 2018.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 Cranstoun, 298.
- ↑ "The Night is Near Gone," Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900 (edited by Arthur Quiller-Couch). Oxford, UK: Clarendon, 1919). Bartleby.com, Web, May 6, 2012.
External links[]
- Poems
- "The Night is Near Gone".
- Alexander Montgomerie (ca. 1545 - 1598) (profile & poem, "from The Cherrie and The Slae") at the Scottish Poetry Library
- Books
- Alexander Montgomerie at Amazon.com
- About
- Alexander Montgomerie in the Encyclopædia Britannica
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen & Sidney Lee). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Montgomerie, Alexander (1556?-1610?)
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