Alexander Barclay
Alexander Barclay was a notable figure from the late 15th to mid-16th century, primarily recognized for his literary contributions in England. Born around 1484, he received a Latin education and may have traveled through Europe before pursuing the priesthood in Devon. Ordained in 1508, Barclay became a Benedictine monk at Ely, where he is best remembered for translating "The Ship of Fools," an English version of Sebastian Brandt's satirical poem. This work explored the follies of various societies and became influential in art and literature, although its literary merit is often debated.
In addition to his translation work, Barclay published five Eclogues in 1513, which are credited with introducing pastoral themes to English poetry, depicting a stark contrast between rural hardships and urban excess. In the 1520s, he transitioned to the Franciscan order and shifted his focus to theological studies. Following the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII, Barclay adapted to the new religious landscape, eventually serving as a secular priest, headmaster of Wells Cathedral School, and vicar in Essex. He passed away in 1552, leaving behind a legacy of early English literary and religious scholarship.
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Alexander Barclay
Poet
- Born: c. 1476
- Birthplace: England
- Died: 1552
- Place of death: Croydon, Surrey, England
Biography
Alexander Barclay was probably born in 1484 or thereabouts—the widely quoted 1475-1476 figure is mistaken—and was sometimes referred to as a Scot although all hard evidence of his existence finds him in England. He was educated in Latin, and may well have traveled in France, Italy, and Germany before studying for the priesthood at the College of Ottery St. Mary, Devon, at the turn of the century. He was ordained at Exeter in 1508, and by 1513, he was a Benedictine monk at Ely in Cambridgeshire. It was there that he produced the writings for which he is remembered.
By far the most famous of Barclay’s literary endeavors is an English version of The Ship of Fools; it is the first credited to him, although he probably did other uncredited translations for the same printer. The original version of The Ship of Fools was Sebastian Brandt’s Narrenschiff, published in a Swabian dialect in 1494. By the time Barclay got his hands on it, though, versions had already been made in numerous other languages; his version acknowledges those in Latin, French and Dutch. Which one Barclay actually used as a basis for his own version is unclear, but he probably saw more than one and knew that other translators had felt free to fit the basic scheme to their own local circumstances, as he did.
The basic idea of The Ship of Fools is that the fools of all lands are being shipped off to the Land of Fools, the poem taking a census of their various species. The Book-Fool is freely acknowledged as the vessel’s steersman, and the many other satirical types that are listed condemn local as well as universal evils. Barclay owes his fame to the work rather than vice versa, because the central idea became iconic, widely reproduced in art and literature, while his particular version is of more interest as a specimen than as a work of art.
Barclay’s most original works were five Eclogues published in 1513, heavily influenced by Petrarch, which have the distinction—a dubious one, according to some critics—of having introducing the pastoral to English poetry. Barclay’s pioneering examples depict the countryside in a severely depressed state, the self-indulgent splendors of city life offering a sharp contrast to the miseries of rural existence. Later writers, who worked the pastoral to death, tended to take a more romanticized view.
In 1520 or thereabouts, Barclay left Ely and the Benedictines to become a Franciscan friar, probably at Canterbury, and seems to have devoted himself thereafter to theological studies; he is not known to have written anything more after 1521. He presumably had an awkward time when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in the late 1530’s, but adapted well enough to the new regime to resurface as a secular priest of the Church of England in 1546, initially in Essex. He became headmaster of Wells Cathedral School in 1547 and was vicar of Great Baddow in Somerset in 1549. In 1552—the year in which he died—he became rector of All Hallows on Lombard Street in London.