William Dunbar

William Dunbar (born 1459 or 1460-died by 1530) was a Scottish makar poet active in the late fifteenth century and the early sixteenth century. He was closely associated with the court of King James IV and produced a large body of work in Scots distinguished by its great variation in themes and literary styles. He was likely a native of East Lothian, as assumed from a satirical reference in the Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie. His surname is also spelled Dumbar.

Dunbar first appears in the historical record in 1474 as a new student or determinant of the Faculty of Arts at the University of St Andrews. Since the customary age for entering a Scottish university at this time was fourteen, a birth-date of 1459 or 1460 has been assumed. At St Andrews, he obtained a bachelor's degree in 1477 and a master's degree in 1479. Details from his later life suggest that he was ordained as a priest at some point, but the date is unknown.

In 1491 and 1492 Dunbar accompanied an embassy to Denmark and France in an unknown capacity. In 1501 and 1502 he participated in an embassy to England in the staff of Andrew Forman, Bishop of Moray.

From 1500 the poet was employed at the court of King James in a role for which he received an annual pension. His duties are not recorded; he is referred to only as a servitour or servant; but it is to this period that the bulk of his poetry can be dated. Several of Dunbar's poems were included in the Chepman and Myllar prints of 1508, the first books to be printed in Scotland.

In 1510, his pension was set at the substantial annual sum of eighty pounds Scots. In comparison, Dunbar's contemporary Hector Boece received an annual salary of £26 13s for his role as Principal of King's College, Aberdeen.

The last reliable reference to Dunbar is in the Treasurer's Accounts for May 1513, where he is recorded receiving a payment of his pension. James died at Flodden in September of the same year. In the dislocation that followed, the Treasurer's accounts cease for a period and, when resumed in 1515, Dunbar is no longer recorded as being employed by the crown.

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