Gawin Douglas

Gawin Douglas (c. 1474 - September 1522) was a Scottish cleric, Makar and translator. He was the third son of Archibald 'Bell-the-Cat' Douglas, Earl of Angus.

Gawin Douglas was appointed Bishop of Dunkeld and Provost of St. Giles and had an important political career, but it is for his poetry that he is now chiefly remembered. His principal pioneering achievement was the Eneados, a full and faithful vernacular translation of the Aeneid of Virgil and the first successful example of its kind in any Anglic language. Other extant poetry includes his Palice of Honour and possibly King Hart.

Gawin Douglas was a younger son of the Earl of Angus. He attended St. Andrews University and attained high office in the Church quite quickly. He was provost of St. Giles Kirk in Edinburgh and was there at the time of James IV's marraige to Margaret Tudor in 1503.

Douglas's poetry was written in Edinburgh, mainly during the reign of James IV. In 1516, during the reign of James V, Douglas was appointed Bishop of Dunkeld and became fully occupied by church, court and plitical business.