约翰·巴伯传记

诗人的传记

巴伯是阿伯丁人，受过良好教育，在圣马查尔大教堂担任了40年的副主教。他不是贵族出身，他的出生日期和父母身份也不确定，但由于他的教会职务，我们不仅可以在苏格兰和英格兰的公共记录中找到他，还可以在他的教区的登记册中找到他。14世纪中期，苏格兰还没有大学，所以巴伯在国外接受教育。他于1357年和1364年在牛津大学学习，被爱德华三世批准安全通过英格兰。在1365年和1368年，他获得了访问法国大学的安全通行证。虽然从事教会工作，但巴伯也是一位作家，今天被认为是苏格兰诗歌和历史之父。虽然他会用拉丁语进行教会事务，但他用自己的语言写诗，这种语言是盎格鲁-撒克逊语的拉丁化版本，加上一些诺曼法语短语。从马里湾到英格兰北部，或多或少都使用这种语言，所以巴伯也有理由被认为是英国诗歌之父。巴伯的杰作是《布鲁斯》，这是一首关于罗伯特·布鲁斯国王史诗般的功绩的诗，巴伯的创作时间是1375年。《布鲁斯》被认为是对这位国王的生平和历险最准确的近当代记述，事实以一种简单的方式呈现出来，尽管普通的现代读者可能会觉得有点难以理解。 Despite the now archaic language new editions of The Bruce are still being published some six centuries after the first edition. As already mentioned, John Barbour was more than just a scholar. He attended parliament as a proxy of the Bishop of Aberdeen and in 1373 was Clerk of Audit of the King's Household and an Auditor of the Exchequer (also in 1382 and 1384). For his services he received pensions from both David II and Robert II. During Barbour's lifetime the centre of the town was near the Castlegate and it is likely that he would have had a dwelling house in the vicinity. Although there is no proof, it has been suggested that he was the son of Andrew Barber who was "a citizen and proprieter of a tenement in the Castlegate".