The Fenyeit Freir of Tungland

"Ane Ballat of the Fenyeit Frier of Tungland, How He Fell in the Myre Fleand to Turkiland" is a comic, satirical poem in Scots by William Dunbar (born 1459 or 1460) composed in the early sixteenth century. The title may be rendered in modern English as "A Ballad of The False Friar of Tongland, How He Fell in the Mire Flying to Turkey".

The poem mocks an apparent attempt by John Damian, the abbott of Tongland, to fly from a wall of Stirling Castle using a pair of artificial wings. While pillorying this event, Dunbar makes a broader attack on Damian's character, depicting him as a habitual charlatan.

The text of the poem is preserved in the Bannatyne Manuscript and, partially, in the Asloan Manuscript.

John Damian was an Italian-born cleric who came to Scotland, at the start of the sixteenth century and became a protégé of King James IV. From 1501 he is recorded receiving payments from the King and is referred to as 'The French Leich' and 'The French Medicinar', suggesting that he practised medicine in some form. He was made abbot of Tongland Abbey in Kirkcudbrightshire. His involvement with the natural sciences is confirmed by the alchemical experiments he carried out, at the King's expense, in Stirling in 1503.

William Dunbar was a makar who was also close to James IV. In his youth, he had accompanied diplomatic missions to France and England and from 1500 was employed at the Royal court, often writing poetry which dealt with courtly events. Dunbar's poem The Birth of Antichrist seems to be a second satire of John Damien with its reference to a flying abbot clothed in feathers.

Damian's career was described by the later historian John Lesley.

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