Robert Aytoun

Sir Robert Aytoun or Ayton[1] (1570–1638) was a Scottish poet.

Robert Aytoun
Born1570
Died1638 (aged 67–68)
Resting placeWestminster Abbey
NationalityScottish
Alma materUniversity of St Andrews
Occupationlawyer, poet
Notable work
Diophantus and Charidora

Biography

Ayton was the son of Andrew Ayton of Kinaldie Castle, in Fife, Scotland, and Mary Lundie.[2]

He and his elder brother John entered St Leonard's College in St Andrews in 1584.[3] After graduating MA from St Andrews in 1588, he studied civil law at Paris.[4][5]

He appears to have been well known to his literary contemporaries in Scotland and England. He became a groom in the privy chamber of King James in sucession to Laurence Marbury, was knighted and became a gentleman of the bedchamber in 1612, and secretary to Anne of Denmark, his queen.[6] He was sent as ambassador to Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor in 1609. He was later secretary to Henrietta Maria.[7]

He wrote poems in Latin, Greek, and English, and was one of the first Scots to write in standard English. His major work was Diophantus and Charidora.[5]

Inconstancy Upbraided is perhaps the best of his short poems. He is credited with a little poem, Old Long Syne, which probably suggested Robert Burns's famous Auld Lang Syne.[5]

Aytoun died at Whitehall Palace and is buried in the Ambulatory Chapels of in Westminster Abbey.[4] The monument includes his bust by Hubert Le Sueur.[8] Amongst his bequests, Aytoun gave a diamond hatband to William Murray and his French bed to Jane Whorwood.[9]

Bothwell and Little Jock Elliot

He is also the author of a ballad called "Bothwell" about the battle fought by James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell with the border reiver, John Elliot of Park, also known as Little Jock Elliot or Little Jock of the Park. The ballad recounts how Bothwell, in attempting to arrest Little Jock Elliot, suffers life-threatening wounds, though he ends by slaying his foe. Ayton was eight years old at the time Bothwell perished in a dungeon in Denmark, and hence must have heard about the attempted arrest of Elliot by people familiar with the story, particularly as Bothwell was a figure of national renown.

The Border ballad "Little Jock Elliot" celebrates (among other events) the achievements of Little Jock Elliot on this occasion and has the refrain "My name is little Jock Elliot and wha daur meddle wi' me!". This latter ballad (of indeterminate age) also implicitly states that Little Jock Elliot survived the encounter with Bothwell.

Notes
  1. Or, less often, Aiton or Aitoun, forms which he used himself, see Charles Rogers, 'Memoir and Poems of Sir Robert Aytoun', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, vol. 1 (London, 1875), p. 107.
  2. Charles Roger, Poems of Robert Ayton (Edinburgh, 1844), p. xxiii: Charles Rogers, 'Memoir and Poems of Sir Robert Aytoun', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, vol. 1 (London, 1875), p. 101.
  3. Charles Roger, Poems of Robert Ayton (Edinburgh, 1844), p. xxiv.
  4. Chisholm 1911, p. 77.
  5. Cousin 1910.
  6. Charles Rogers, 'Memoir and Poems of Sir Robert Aytoun', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, vol. 1 (London, 1875), pp. 102-3.
  7. Charles Roger, Poems of Robert Ayton (Edinburgh, 1844), p. xxvi-xxxiv.
  8. Charles Rogers, 'Memoir and Poems of Sir Robert Aytoun', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, vol. 1 (London, 1875), p. 110.
  9. Charles Rogers, 'Memoir and Poems of Sir Robert Aytoun', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, vol. 1 (London, 1875), pp. 112.

References
  • Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Aytoun, Sir Robert" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 77.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

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