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the Minstrel Henry

Blind Harry's Wallace Paperback – July 1, 2003

by William Hamilton (Author), Elspeth King (Author)

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The epic verse of "Blind Harry" (or "Henry the Minstrel") is the main source on the life of Sir William Wallace. It was written around 1477 and based on the now lost Latin book of John Blair, commisioned by 'the fetching bishop' William Sinclair, Bishop of Dunkeld, to send to the Pope. Blind Harry gathered stories and traditions of Wallace from all over Scotland and sang or recited his verse. He was well recieved at the Renaissance court of King James IV. Blind Harry's "Acts and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace" was one of the first Scottish books printed in Scotland. Hamilton's edition, "wherein the old obsolete words are rendered more intelligible", first published in 1722, had a great influence on Burns (whom it inspired to visit many of the sites mentioned and to write a number of poems including "Scots Wha Hae") and many others, including Wordsworth and Byron. Elspeth King, has long campaigned to bring Blind Harry's work back into print in an accessible form, and argues for its significance amd relevance today.

Print length

264 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Luath Press Ltd
Publication date

July 1, 2003
Dimensions

5.55 x 0.95 x 8.22 inches
ISBN-10

0946487332
ISBN-13

978-0946487332
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Blind Harrys Wallace is one of the most popular Scottish books of all time. -- Scottish Book Collector

From the Publisher

Which book has been the greatest inspiration to Scots within and outwith Scotland over the last 500 years?

Why has one of the most influential books ever published in Scotland been out of print for almost 140 years, despite the fact that at least 47 editions are known to have been published?

Is the "lost manuscript" on which the book is said to have been based in existence?

How did American writer Randall Wallace come to base his script for Braveheart on this book?

Would a parliament in Scotland have won decisive support without the Braveheart factor?

Why has the poet and minstrel - whose work Burns deemed worthy of Homer - been ignored for so long?

Who was Blind Harry, and what is the significance of his work in modern Scotland today?

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Luath Press Ltd (July 1, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 264 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0946487332
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0946487332
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.5 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.55 x 0.95 x 8.22 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,456,535 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,990 in Historical European Biographies (Books)
- #22,628 in European History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
22 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

22 global ratings

5 star		81%
4 star		4%
3 star		7%
2 star		8%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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Top reviews from the United States

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R. Allen Nelson

Must read for Scttish History

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 14, 2022

A classic!

A Good and Trusty Friend

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 17, 2007

Verified Purchase

Blind Harry wrote over a hundred years after Wallace was executed, but to this day his history is the most complete life of Wallace. Some dispute the extent of the recorded adventures and argue it is folk lore or fable, but fact is often stranger than fiction. I first encountered the 1800's reprint of the manuscript in the rare books section at Sydney University Library some twenty years ago, and having my own personal copy now is a rare treat indeed. Forget Braveheart. The movie could never encompass a fraction of Blind Harry's description of the deeds of Wallace. A word of caution to those who claim descent from Wallace. It is recorded that he died without issue. So I am of his family, but none are of his lineage.

Read it for the drama, and the poetry of the legend. Or read it out of respect for the world's first, and best, guerrilla fighter.

6 people found this helpful

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Lord Michael

Great Wallace Information

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 23, 2012

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I am glad I bought this book. I now know the finner details about Sir William Wallaces and his life, the details that the movie BraveHeart would not have been able to include, unless it was made into a mini-series.

Lord Michael Hays

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 12, 2014

Verified Purchase

Use it for research I was not aware that it was written as poetry, which makes it harder to follow

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 11, 2015

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Amazing yet fictional insight into William Wallace by a 15th Century poet.

One person found this helpful

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Julie A. Potter-Dunlop

Epic poem of the service of William Wallace

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 14, 2011

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I learned about this written account of Wallace's Scottish patriotism when I visited the Smith Museum in Stirling over the summer. This is a fascinating read!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 11, 2016

Verified Purchase

REALLY GOOD!

One person found this helpful

Helpful

S. Gustafson

Turbo swords!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 21, 2006

William Hamilton of Gilbertsfield's retelling of Blind Harry's Wallace, which he rewrote into rhyming couplets in the eighteenth century, starts with two strikes against it. This is a long eighteenth century poem, and it's written in rhyming couplets. It nevertheless manages to remain interesting, largely because the subject itself resists Augustan ornament and distancing.

Blind Harry wrote his original epic in the fifteenth century. Hamilton remade it into modern English sprinkled occasionally with Scots words. Most of these are glossed in the margins in this edition; modern readers will not find its story hard to follow. Hamilton is not always faithful to his source; the introduction notes that a supernatural sequence, where Blind Harry had Wallace dreaming a vision of the Virgin Mary, and had his vision interpreted by a priest, has been altered in this retelling to better suit Presbyterian sensibilities. Again, the subject resists Augustan polish, and the occasional inclusion of highfalutin' vocabulary or stock pastoral imagery here only adds a disconcerting bit of cognitive dissonance. On the whole, the verse seems more reminiscent of broadsheet ballads than of Dryden or Pope; as such it's more accomodating to contemporary readers.

The story reads like an over the top novelization of a Dungeons & Dragons adventure. Wallace seems to be portrayed as a turbo Grignr, a Tasmanian Devil of manslaughter; he commits a fresh homicide in almost every chapter, even the ones that aren't about warfare and battle. The Scots are the good guys and the English are the bad guys, so any time Wallace encounters an Englishman, blood is spilt.

The net result is to make the poem a highly entertaining yarn, at least in small doses at a time. It's hard to have much empathy with the hero, but the lurid spectacle of his exploits and downfall is told with enough hyperbole to make up for the one-dimensionality of its characterizations.

The pleasures of fine writing aren't to be found here. It's hard to give the poem much credit as a historical source. The pleasures of sword and sorcery, comic books, and murder ballads are what the poem has to offer; and if you bring appropriate expectations to the work, you may well find it quite entertaining.

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

D. J. Favager

Tedious Anti-English Rant

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 8, 2019

Verified Purchase

I could probably have tolerated the nationalist bias of this reworking of Blind Harry’s ‘epic’ treatment of the life of William Wallace had there been any sustained narrative interest in the this lengthy work but as it consists largely of one episode of slaughtering the English after another with few entertaining interludes and almost no poetical description I found it a real chore to get through and almost gave up several times. It really was not worth the effort – tis may be a historically important wok but it is certainly a tedious one. This is not an epic to compare with Homer or Virgil, with the better medieval romances or the great Renaissance poets like Tasso. Although far more accessible than the original Scots version, Hamilton’s eighteenth century language is stilted and the rhyming couplets tiresome. This edition does gloss unfamiliar words and offers a useful introduction. If it is true that reading this book inspired the film Braveheart it is a tribute to the director that the film was as exciting as it was but at least we can see where the anti-English bias originated!

One person found this helpful

Ziggyzigzag

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 9, 2016

Verified Purchase

the legend!

Suzanne M

Great Book!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on November 14, 2019

Verified Purchase

Very informative

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Blind Harry's Wallace Paperback – July 1, 2003

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