Alexander Barclay

Poet and writer, probably born in Scotland, UK. In 1508 he was chaplain of Ottery St Mary, Devon, and perhaps c.1511 became a monk at Ely. His famous poem, The Shyp of Folys of the Worlde (1509), is partly a translation and partly an imitation of the German Das Narrenschiff (1494, The Ship of Fools) by Sebastian Brant. In it, Barclay paints a picture of contemporary English life and condemns various evils of the time, notably the misdeeds of officials and the corruption of secular and ecclesiastical courts.

Dr Alexander Barclay (c.

From the numerous incidental references in his works, and from his knowledge of European literature, it may be inferred that he spent some time abroad. Here he wrote his satirical poem, The Ship of Fools, partly a translation from Sebastian Brant.

The death of his patron in 1513 apparently put an end to his connection with the west, and he became a monk in the Benedictine monastery of Ely. In this retreat he probably wrote his eclogues, but in 1520 "Maistre Barkleye, the Blacke Monke and Poete" was desired to devise "histoires and convenient raisons to florisshe the buildings and banquet house withal" at the meeting between Henry VIII and Francis I at the Field of the Cloth of Gold.

It is presumed that he conformed with the change of religion, for he retained under Edward VI the livings of Great Baddow, Essex, and of Wokey, Somerset, which he had received in 1546, and was presented in 1552 by the dean and chapter of Canterbury to the rectory of All Hallows, Lombard Street, London.

The Ship of Fools was as popular in its English dress as it had been in Germany. In itself a product of the medieval conception of the fool who figured so largely in the Shrovetide and other pageants, it differs entirely from the general allegorical satires of the preceding centuries. they are concrete examples of the folly of the bibliophile who collects books but learns nothing from them, of the evil judge who takes bribes to favour the guilty, of the old fool whom time merely strengthens in his folly, of those who are eager to follow the fashions, of the priests who spend their time in church telling "gestes" of Robin Hood and so forth.

Barclay also translated the Mirrour of Good Manners, from the Italian of Dominic Mancini, and wrote five Eclogues, printed by Wynkyn de Worde in c.1518.