7 - John Barbour’s Scholastic Discourse on Thraldom

Summary

John Barbour’s eulogy to freedom is arguably the most celebrated passage of Early Scots literature. But only the first half of his discussion of the subject is well known. The second half is in fact a rumination on the nature of thraldom and a glance at its bookish conclusion is sufficient to explain why few have bothered to learn it by heart. Clerics dispute, Barbour informs us, whether a thrall should prioritize the command of his master or his marital duty:

Than may clerkis questioun

Quhen thai fall in disputacioun

That gyff man bad his thryll owcht do

And in the samyn tym come him to

His wyff and askyt him hyr det

Quhether he his lordis neid suld let

And pay fryst that he awcht and syne

Do furth his lordis commandyne

Or leve onpayit his wyfff and do

Thai thingis that commaundyt is him to

I leve all the solucioun

Till thaim that ar off mar renoun.

The pedestrian style and apparent irrelevance of the aside that ends the famous eulogy have mystified commentators of The Bruce. Historians like Edward Cowan are understandably unhappy with this ‘feeble conclusion’. It adds little, it seems, to the discourse on national independence which the rest of the poem is taken to promote. In addition, from an aesthetical point of view – compared to the catching pathos of the eulogy’s beginning (A! Fredome is a noble thing!) – it is rather disappointing.

Barbour’s poetical failure is not the issue here. This chapter identifies theological, legal and philosophical facets of Barbour’s discourse on thraldom. This part of The Bruce and its particular scholastic features merit attention on several accounts. Historians like Geoffrey Barrow and Edward Cowan have discussed how Barbour’s praise of freedom connected to the constitutional issues of the day, but have paid little attention to his account of thraldom. Yet Barbour insisted that to understand freedom we must examine thraldom. And it is the discourse on thraldom that presents his view on the constitutional issue that modern historians have been keen to explore. Another reason to examine this part of The Bruce moves beyond the confines of Scottish historical politics. Barbour’s discourse on thraldom illustrates one of the intellectual milieus that shaped him as an author. The exploration of Barbour’s intellectual world is essential for a fuller appreciation of The Bruce.