James I of Scotland

James I (December 10 1394 – February 21 1437) was King of Scots from 1406 until his death. As a makar he is credited with the earliest known poem in the Scottish Chaucerian tradition, The Kingis Quair, which describes his eighteen-year detention as a hostage in England and his courtship there of Lady Joan Beaufort.

The bird, the beste, the fisch eke in the see,
They lyve in fredome, everich in his kind,
And I a man, and lakkith libertee.

Quotes

The Kingis Quair

• The bird, the best, the fisch eke in the see,
  They live in fredome, everich in his kynd.
  And I a man, and lakkith libertee.
  • Line 183

• Now was there maid fast by the touris wall
  A gardyn fair, and in the corneris set
  Ane herber grene with wandis long and small
  Railit about; and so with treis set
  Was all the place, and hawthorn hegis knet.
  • Line 211

• Worschippe, ye that loveris bene this May,
  For of your blisse the kalendis are begonne,
  And sing with us, “away, winter, away!
  Cum, somer, cum, the suete sesoun and sonne!”
  • Line 232

• And therewith kest I doun myn eye ageyne,
  Quhare as I sawe, walking under the tour,
  Full secretly new cummyn hir to pleyne,
  The fairest or the freschest yonge floure
  That ever I sawe, me thoght, before that houre,
  For quhich sodayn abate anon astert
  The blude of all my body to my hert.
  • Line 274

• So ferr I fallyng into lufis dance,
  That sodeynly my wit, my contenance,
  My hert, my will, my nature and my mynd,
  Was changit clene ryght in anothir kynd.
  • Line 312

• Beautee eneuch to mak a world to dote.
  • Line 329

• The cristall water ran so clere and cold,
  That in myn ere maid contynualy
  A maner soun, mellit with armony,
  That full of lytill fischis by the brym
  Now here now there with bakkis blewe as lede
  Lap and playit, and in a rout can swym
  So prattily, and dressit tham to sprede
  Thair curall fynnis as the ruby rede,
  That in the sonne on thair scalis bryght
  As gesserant ay glitterit in my sight.
  • Line 1060

External links

• Encyclopedic article on James I of Scotland on Wikipedia
• Media related to James I of Scotland on Wikimedia Commons
• The full text of The Kingis Quair