Hector Boece - Wikipedia Hector Boece From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search This article is about the philosopher. For the work by Chaucer, see Boece (Chaucer). For the place in France, see Boëcé. Hector Boece Born 1465 Dundee, Angus Died 1536 (aged 70–71) Nationality Scottish Alma mater University of St Andrews Occupation philosopher Notable work Lives of the Bishops of Mortlach and Aberdeen; History of Scotland Hector Boece (/ˈbɔɪs/; also spelled Boyce or Boise; 1465–1536), known in Latin as Hector Boecius or Boethius, was a Scottish philosopher and historian, and the first Principal of King's College in Aberdeen, a predecessor of the University of Aberdeen. Contents 1 Biography 2 Works 2.1 Reception of the Historia 2.2 Continuations of the Historia and its influence 2.3 Boece's sources 3 See also 4 Notes 5 Further reading 6 External links Biography[edit] He was born in Dundee where he attended school and was educated at the nearby University of St Andrews.[1] Later he left to study at the University of Paris where he met Erasmus, with whom he became close friends while they were both students at the austere Collège de Montaigu, to whose reforming Master, Jan Standonck, Boece later became Secretary. By 1497 he had become a professor of philosophy at Collège de Montaigu. In 1500, he was induced to leave Paris for Aberdeen by a generously financed offer to become the first principal of the newly established University of Aberdeen, created at the behest of James IV by William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen under the authority of a Papal bull issued by Pope Alexander VI. From then onwards, he worked closely with Elphinstone, to set up the new university and by 1505, regular lectures were taking place at King's College. The university structure was modelled on those of Paris and of Orléans. As intended, Boece was installed as the first principal of the university and gave lectures on medicine and on divinity. At the end of 1534, Boece became Rector of Fyvie. He died in Aberdeen two years later at the age of 71. Works[edit] Boece wrote and published two books, one of biography and one of history. In 1522 he published the Vitae Episcoporum Murthlacensium et Aberdonensium (Lives of the Bishops of Murthlack and Aberdeen) and in 1527 the Historia Gentis Scotorum (History of the Scottish People) to the accession of James III of Scotland. The former was the basis of a poem in Scots by Alexander Gardyne.[2] Reception of the Historia[edit] The Historia is the work for which Boece is remembered, as the second scholarly history of the Scots to be written; its only real predecessor was the compendium of John Mair. It was written in a flowing and pleasing style, became popular, and led to ecclesiastical preferment and royal favour. By modern standards it is overly patriotic, and has many inaccuracies. The historical account of Macbeth of Scotland, in particular, flattered the antecedents of Boece's patron King James IV of Scotland, and greatly maligned the real Macbeth. The work was well received at the time, both in Europe and in Scotland, after its translation from Latin into French and then in 1536 from Latin into Scots by John Bellenden. There are some interesting glimpses in the Historia of contemporary Scotland, such as the statement that the Eurasian beaver, which was soon to become extinct in Scotland, was still common around Loch Ness. Continuations of the Historia and its influence[edit] Boece's Historia as published terminated in 1438. In the early 1530s the scholar Giovanni Ferrerio, engaged by Robert Reid of Kinloss Abbey, wrote a continuation of Boece's history, extending it another 50 years, to the end of the reign of James III. John Lesley in his De Origine, Moribus, et Rebus Gestis Scotorum, and Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, provided further continuations. The metrical translation into Scots by William Stewart, not published until the nineteenth century, also provided some expansion.[3][4] The chronicler Polydore Vergil made some use of Boece for his 1534 Historia Anglica.[3] David Chalmers of Ormond in his Histoire abbregée (1572) wrote about the French, English and Scottish monarchies, relying on Boece for the Scottish account.[5] The Historia was translated into English for Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The account in Holinshed's Chronicle was then used by William Shakespeare as the basis of his play Macbeth. George Buchanan made heavy use of Boece in his Rerum Scoticarum Historia (1582).[3] Boece's sources[edit] Boece's claimed sources fell into three classes. The works of John Fordun (Chronica Gentis Scotorum) and Walter Bower (Scotichronicon) defined the tradition which he attempted to make seamless, filling the gaps in the chronicle, and applying the approach common to humanists of his period. The works of Tacitus had been rediscovered, in the 14th century, and contained material relevant to British history; and Boece was concerned to integrate it into the tradition. Finally there was a group of sources that remain debated: material from Elphinstone, and the authors Veremundus, Cornelius Hibernicus, and John Campbell. No written record of these works survives.[3] Sharp criticism of the sourcing of Boece's history was voiced in the sixteenth century by Humphrey Lhuyd and John Twyne. In the eighteenth century the historical content of the earlier parts of it was effectively dismantled by Thomas Innes.[3] Boece shared in the credulity of his age; the approach of Mair, who was writing in parallel at the same time, but with a different focus and with a more critical and less sweeping method, did not represent the current fashion.[3] The charge of actually inventing his authorities, formerly brought against Boece, has been the subject of recent scholarship. One example of Boece being cleared of the charge of fabricating his work concerns the Battle of Luncarty, Luncarty, Clan Hay. He was suspected by the Scottish historian John Hill Burton[6] of inventing that battle but, Walter Bower writing in his Scotichronicon[7] around 1440, some 87 years before Boece first published his Scotorum Historia, refers to the battle briefly. The "John Campbell" is tentatively identified as Boece's contemporary John Campbell of Lundie (died 1562). "Veremundus", it is argued, may be a Richard Vairement of the 13th century.[8] See also[edit] Evonium List of legendary kings of Scotland Sleuth hound Notes[edit] ^ "Five Scottish philosophers who helped shape the world". The Scotsman. 11 April 2016. ^ McClure, J. Derrick. "Garden, Alexander". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/10380. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) ^ a b c d e f Royan, Nicola. "Boece, Hector". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2760. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) ^ Turnbull, William B., ed., The Buik of the Chroniclis of Scotland; a metrical version of the History of Hector Boece by William Stewart, 3 vols, Rolls Series, Longman (1858). ^ Goodare, Julian. "Chalmers, David". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/5069. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) ^ John Hill Burton; The History of Scotland from Agricola's Invasion to the Revolution of 1688; Vol.1, pp. 364-365, Edinburgh: Will. Blackwood and Sons, 1867 ^ S. Taylor, D. E. R. Watt, B. Scott, eds (1990). Scotichronicon by Walter Bower in Latin and English; Vol. 5. Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press. pp. 341–343. ^ "intro". www.philological.bham.ac.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2017. Further reading[edit] Chambers, Robert; Thomson, Thomas Napier (1857). "Boece, Hector" . A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen. 1. Glasgow: Blackie and Son. pp. 262–68 – via Wikisource.   Cousin, John William (1910), "Boece, or Boethius, Hector", A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, London: J. M. Dent & Sons – via Wikisource Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Boece, Hector" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. External links[edit] John Bellenden's translation of Boece's History of Scotland, vol.1 (1821) Scotorum Historia (1575 version) in Latin and English Murthlacensium et Aberdonensium Episcoporum Vitae Attribution Authority control BIBSYS: 5070535 BNF: cb125571787 (data) CANTIC: a11353028 CiNii: DA11872393 GND: 10421161X ISNI: 0000 0000 7971 2297 LCCN: nr93001220 NKC: hka2013765882 NLA: 36185296 NLI: 000526915 NTA: 07100582X RERO: 02-A013770802 SELIBR: 358470 SNAC: w6tq5znh SUDOC: 06703666X Trove: 1225645 VcBA: 495/384 VIAF: 17337454 WorldCat Identities: lccn-nr93001220 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hector_Boece&oldid=957182772" Categories: 1465 births 1536 deaths People educated at the High School of Dundee People from Dundee Principals of the University of Aberdeen Scots-language writers Scottish educators Scottish historians Scottish philosophers Scottish scholars and academics 16th-century Scottish writers 16th-century male writers 16th-century Scottish historians Alumni of the University of St Andrews University of Paris alumni Historians of Scotland People associated with the University of Aberdeen Writers from Dundee Scottish Roman Catholics Hidden categories: Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the ODNB EngvarB from August 2014 Use dmy dates from August 2014 Articles with hCards Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from SBDEL Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with CANTIC identifiers Wikipedia articles with CINII identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with NKC identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLA identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLI identifiers Wikipedia articles with NTA identifiers Wikipedia articles with RERO identifiers Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with Trove identifiers Wikipedia articles with VcBA identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Wikisource Languages Deutsch Eesti Español فارسی Français Gàidhlig Հայերեն Italiano Latina Nederlands Norsk bokmål Polski Português Русский Scots Svenska Edit links This page was last edited on 17 May 2020, at 13:53 (UTC). 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