Richard Holland facts for kids

Richard Holland (who also used the name Richard de Holande) was a Scottish writer and church leader who lived a long time ago, in the 1400s. He is most famous for writing a poem called Buke of the Howlat.

Life of Richard Holland

Early Life and Work

Richard Holland worked for important people. He was a secretary or a chaplain (a kind of priest) for Archibald Douglas, Earl of Moray, around the year 1450. He was also a rector (a church leader) in places like Halkirk, which is near Thurso in Scotland. Later, he was a rector in Abbreochy, near Loch Ness. He even had a special church role in a cathedral in Norway.

Loyalty to the Douglas Family

Holland was a very strong supporter of the Douglas family. They were a powerful and important family in Scotland at that time. When the Douglas family lost their power, Holland had to leave. He moved to Orkney and then later to Shetland, which are islands north of Scotland.

Political Challenges

Richard Holland was involved in some political events. He worked for King Edward IV of England. King Edward was trying to get the people in the Western Isles of Scotland to side with him, using the Douglas family to help.

In 1482, King James III of Scotland offered a special pardon to people. This pardon was for anyone who would stop supporting the Douglas family. However, Richard Holland was specifically left out of this pardon because he remained loyal to the Douglases.

The Buke of the Howlat

About the Poem

Richard Holland's most famous work is a long poem called Buke of the Howlat. He wrote it around 1450. The poem clearly shows how much he admired the Douglas family. For example, it says: "On ilk beugh till embrace Writtin in a bill was O Dowglass, O Dowglass Tender and trewe!" This means "On every branch, written on a scroll, was 'Oh Douglas, Oh Douglas, Tender and true!'"

The poem is also dedicated to the wife of a Douglas family member. It says: "Thus for ane Dow of Dunbar drew I this Dyte, Dowit with ane Dowglass, and boith war thei dowis." This means "So for a Dove of Dunbar I wrote this poem, gifted to a Douglas, and both were doves."

What the Poem Means

Some people thought The Buke of the Howlat was a political allegory. An allegory is a story that has a hidden meaning, often about politics or morals. They thought it might be secretly supporting the Douglas family's political ideas.

However, many experts, like the famous writer Sir Walter Scott, believe it's just a fun story. Sir Walter Scott said it was "a poetical apologue... without any view whatever to local or natural politics." This means he thought it was a fable or a story with a moral, not a secret political message.

The poem is a type of "bird-allegory." This means the characters in the story are birds, and their actions teach a lesson or tell a story about human behavior. It's similar to other old poems like the Parlement of Foules.

Interesting Details

The Buke of the Howlat is written in a special style called "alliterative rhymed stanza." This means that many words in the same line start with the same sound (alliteration), and the poem also has a rhyming pattern.

The poem also gives us a peek into how people felt long ago. In some parts, it shows how people who spoke "Inglis" (an early form of English) felt about the "Scots-speaking Gael" (people who spoke Scottish Gaelic) from the west of Scotland. This kind of difference was also shown in other poems, like Dunbar's Flyting with Kennedy.

Where We Find the Poem Today

The original text of The Buke of the Howlat has been kept safe in two old handwritten books: the Asloan Manuscript (from around 1515) and the Bannatyne Manuscript (from 1568). Even though these copies are from the 1500s, the poem itself is thought to be 50 to 70 years older.

Small pieces of an early printed version from the 1500s were found by D. Laing. These pieces were copied and shared by a group called the Bannatyne Club.

The poem has been printed many times over the years, making it available for more people to read. Some of the people and groups who have reprinted it include:

• Richard Holland, Bangor, 1989
• John Pinkerton, in his book Scottish Poems (1792)
• David Laing (for the Bannatyne Club in 1823)
• The "New Club" series, Paisley, 1882
• The Hunterian Club in their edition of the Bannatyne Manuscript
• A. Diebler (Chemnitz, 1893)
• F. J. Amours in Scottish Alliterative Poems (Scottish Text Society, 1897), pages 47–81.