Scottish Literary Timeline
1394 James I, King of Scots, born, Dunfermline
c1420 Robert Henryson born
1437 James I dies, Perth
c1460 William Dunbar born, East Lothian(?)
c1474 Gavin Douglas born, Tantallon(?)
c1490 David Lyndsay born Robert Henryson dies, Dunfermline(?)
1501 The Palice of Honour, Douglas
1508 six poems printed by Dunbar printed
c1513 John Knox born, Haddington
c1520 William Dunbar dies
1522 Gavind Douglas dies, London
1528 The Dreme of David Lyndsay, Lyndsay
1529 The Complaynt of the King, Lyndsay
1536 The Complaynt and Publict Confessioun of the Kingis Auld Hound callit Bagsche, Lyndsay
1538 The Testament and Complaynt of Our Soverane Lordis Papyngo, Lyndsay
c1545 Alexander Montgomerie born
1553 The XIII Bukes of the Eneados, Douglas (post.)
1555 David Lyndsay dies
1556 James VI, King of Scots, born, Edinburgh Castle
1558 The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, Knox
1567 William Alexander born, Menstrie Alexander Craig born, Banff
1570 Robert Ayton born, Kinaldie
1572 John Knox dies, Edinburgh
1585 William Drummond born, Hawthornden John Scott of Scotstarvit born, Knightspottie Essayes of a Prentise in the Divine Art of Poesie ["Reulis and Cautelis"], James VI
1586 History of the Reformation of Religion Within the Realm of Scotland, Knox (post.)
1597 The Cherie and the Slae, Montgomerie Daemonologie, James VI
1598 Alexander Montgomerie dies
1599 Basilicon Doron, James VI
1603 Darius, Alexander Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estatis, Lyndsay (post.)
1604 Aurora, Alexander The Political Essayes of Alexander Craige, Scoto-Britane, Craig
c1611 Thomas Urquhart born, Cromarty
1613 Tears on the Death of Meliades, Drummond
1614 Doomes-day, Alexander Poems, Amorous, Funereall, Divine, Pastorall in Sonnets, Songs, Sextains, Madrigals, Drummond
1623 Flowres of Sion, Drummond
1625 James VI dies
1627 Alexander Craig dies
1636 Robert Ayton dies
1637 Delitiae Poetarum Scotorum, Scott of Scotstarvit
1640 William Alexander dies, London
1641 Epigrams: Divine and Moral, Urquhart
1649 William Drummond dies
1652 The Discoverie of a Most Exquisite Jewel, Urquhart Pantochronicon, Urquhart
1653 Logopandecteison, Urquhart
1660 Thomas Urquhart dies
1670 John Scott of Scotstarvit dies
1684 Allan Ramsay born, Leadhills
1699 Robert Blair born, Edinburgh
1711 David Hume born, Edinburgh
1713 A Poem to the Memory of the Famous Archibald Pitcairne, Ramsay
1714 James Burnett, Lord Moboddo, born, Monboddo
1721 Thomas Blacklock born, Annan Tobias Smollett born, Vale of Leven William Wilkie born, Dalmeny Poems, Ramsay
1722 John Home born, Leith
1723 Adam Smith born, Kirkaldy
1724 Duncan Ban MacIntyre [Donncadh Ban Mac an t-Saoir] born, Glen Orchy The Evergreen, Ramsay The Tea-Table Miscellany, Ramsay (also 1725, '27, '32, '32, '37)
1725 The Gentle Shepherd, Ramsay
1729 John Moore born, Stirling
1732 William Falconer born, Edinburgh James Macpherson born, Ruthven
1739 Treatise on Human Nature, Hume
1740 James Boswell born, Edinburgh
1741 Essays, Moral and Political, Hume
1743 The Grave, Blair
1745 Henry Mackenzie born, Edinburgh
1746 Robert Blair dies Advice: a Satire, Smollett
1748 Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Behavior, Hume Roderick Random, Smollett
1750 Robert Fergusson born, Edinburgh
1751 An Enquiry Concerning the Prinicples of Morals, Hume Peregrine Pickle, Smollett
1753 Dugald Stewart born, Edinburgh Ferdinand, Count Fathom, Smollett
1757 Douglas, Home The Epigoniad, Wilkie
1758 Elizabeth Hamilton born, Belfast Allan Ramsay dies, Edinburgh The Highlander, Macpherson
1759 Robert Burns born, Alloway The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith
1760 A Collection of Original Poems, Blacklock Fragments of Ancient Poetry, Macpherson (ed.)
1761 Fingal, Macpherson (ed?)
1762 Joanna Baillie born, Bothwell Launcelot Greaves, Smollett The Shipwreck, Falconer
1763 Temora, Macpherson (ed?)
1765 The Works of Ossian, Macpherson (ed?)
1768 An Account of Corsica, Boswell Fables, Wilkie Poems, MacIntyre
1769 William Falconer dies
1770 James Hogg born, Ettrickhall Farm
1771 Mungo Park born, Foulshiels Walter Scott born, Edinburgh Tobias Smollett dies, Livorno, Italy The Man of Feeling, Mackenzie Roderick Random, Smollett
1772 William Wilkie dies, St. Andrews
1773 Auld Reekie: A Poem, Fergusson The Man of Feeling, Mackenzie On the Origin and Progress of Language, Lord Moboddo Poems, Fergusson
1774 Robert Fergusson dies, Edinburgh
1776 David Hume dies, Edinburgh The Wealth of Nations, Smith
1777 Thomas Campbell Born, Glasgow
1779 Mary [Balfour] Brunton born, Orkney
1782 Susan Edmonstone Ferrier born, Edinburgh
1783 The Kingis Quair, James I (post.)
1784 William Tennant born, Anstruther
1785 John Wilson ["Christopher North"] born, Paisley Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, Boswell
1786 Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, Burns
1787 The Scots Musical Museum, Burns (ed.)
1788 George Gordon, Lord Byron born, London
1789 Michael Scott born, Glasgow Zeluco, Moore
1790 Adam Smith dies, Edinburgh Fugitive Pieces, Baillie
1791 Thomas Blacklock dies The Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D., Boswell "Tam o'Shanter," Burns (in Grose's Antiquities of Scotland)
1793 Outlines of Moral Philosophy, Stewart
1794 John Gibson Lockhart born, Cambusnethan
1795 Thomas Carlyle born, Ecclefechan James Boswell dies Essays of Philosophical Subjects, Smith (post.) 1796 G(eorge) R(obert) Gleig born, Stirling Robert Burns dies, Dumfries James Macpherson dies, Badenoch The Chase, and William and Helen, Two Ballads from the German, Walter Scott (trans.) 1797 William Motherwell ["Isaac Brown"] born, Glasgow
1798 David Macbeth Moir born, Musselburgh Plays of Passion, Baillie
1799 John Galt born, Irvine James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, dies, Edinburgh Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa, Park
1800 Catherine Sinclair born, Edinburgh The Merry Muses of Caledonia, Burns (post.)
1801 Scottish Pastorals, Hogg
1802 John Moore dies, London The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Walter Scott
1805 The Lay of the Last Minstrel, Walter Scott
1806 Mungo Park dies, Bussa, Niger
1807 Hours of Idleness, Byron
1808 John Home dies The Cottagers of Glenburnie, Hamilton Gertrude of Wyoming, Campbell Marmion, Walter Scott
1810 The Forest Minstrel, Hogg The Lady of the Lake, Walter Scott Self Control, Brunton
1812 Duncan Ban MacIntyre dies Anster Fair, Tennant Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Byron Isle of Palms and Other Poems, Wilson
1813 W(illiam) E(dmonstoune) Aytoun born, Edinburgh David Livingstone born, Blantyre The Bride of Abydos, Byron
1814 Waverley, Walter Scott
1815 Guy Mannering, Walter Scott
1816 Elizabeth Hamilton dies
1818 Mary Brunton dies, Edinburgh Beppo, Byron The Brownie of Bodsbeck, Hogg The Heart of Midlothian, Walter Scott Marriage, Ferrier Rob Roy, Walter Scott
1819 Don Juan, Byron The Harp of Renfrewshire, Motherwell Ivanhoe, Walter Scott Peter's Letters to His Kinsfolk, Lockhart Specimens of the British Poets, Campbell
1821 Mary Macpherson [Mairi "Mairi Mhor nan Oran" nic-a-Phearsain] born, Skye George John Whyte-Melville born, Strathkinness The Annals of the Parish, Galt The Ayrshire Legatees, Galt Kenilworth, Walter Scott
1822 Adam Blair, Lockhart The Thane of Fife, Tennant
1823 The Entail, Galt Ringhan Gilhaize, Galt The Trials of Margaret Lyndsay, Wilson
1824 George MacDonald born, Huntly George Gordon, Lord Byron dies, Missolonghi, Greece The Inheritance, Ferrier The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Hogg Redgauntlet, Walter Scott Theodoric, Campbell Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, Carlyle (trans.)
1825 R(obert) M(ichael) Ballantyne born, Edinburgh William McGonagall born, Edinburgh The Foresters, Wilson
1826 William Alexander born, Garioch The Subaltern, G.R. Gleig
1827 Henrietta Keddie ["Sarah Tytler"] born, Cupar Papistry Stormed, Tennant
1828 Margaret [Wilson] Oliphant born, Wallyford Dugald Stewart dies, Bo'ness The Life of Mansie Wauch, Tailor of Dalkeith, Moir Life of Robert Burns, Lockhart
1831 Henry Mackenzie dies Destiny, Ferrier
1832 Walter Scott dies, Abbotsford Poland, Homer, and Other Poems, Aytoun
1834 James Thomson born, Port Glasgow Poems of William Dunbar Songs by the Ettrick Shepherd, Hogg Tom Cringle's Log, Michael Scott
1835 James Hogg dies William Motherwell dies Michael Scott dies, Glasgow The Cruise of the Midge, Michael Scott
1836 Sartor Resartus, Carlyle
1837 The French Revolution, Carlyle Memoirs of the Life of Scott, Lockhart
1839 John Galt dies, Greenock Holiday House, Sinclair
1840 William ["Gordon"] Stables born, Aberchirder
1841 On Heroes, Hero Worship, and the Heroic in History, Carlyle
1843 The Noctes Ambrosianae, Wilson Past and Present, Carlyle 1844 Andrew Lang born, Selkirk Thomas Campbell dies, Boulogne
1845 William Minto born, Alford The Book of Ballads, ed. by Bon Gaultier, Aytoun (with Theodore Martin) 1848 William Tennant dies, Anstruther Hudson's Bay, Every-day Life in the Wilds of North America, Ballantyne
1849 Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers and Other Poems, Aytoun Margaret Maitland, Oliphant
1850 Robert Louis Stevenson born, Edinburgh John Watson ["Ian Maclaren"] born, Manningtree, Essex 1851 Joanna Baillie dies, London David Macbeth Moir dies, Edinburgh
1854 James George Frazer born, Glasgow Susan Edmonstone Ferrier dies John Gibson Lockhart dies, Abbotsford John Wilson dies
1855 William Sharp ["Fiona Macleod"] born, Paisley
1856 The Young Fur Traders, Ballantyne
1857 John Davidson born, Barrhead Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa, Livingstone Phantastes, MacDonald
1858 The Coral Island, Ballantyne
1859 S(amuel) R(utherford) Crockett born, Balmaghie Arthur Conan Doyle born, Edinburgh Kenneth Grahame born, Edinburgh Annie S. Swan born, Coldingham
1860 J(ames) M(atthew) Barrie born, Kirriemuir
1862 Helen Bannerman born, Edinburgh The Queen's Maries, Whyte-Melville
1863 Violet [Kennedy-Erskine] Jacob born, Montrose David Elginbrod, MacDonald Salem Chapel, Oliphant 1864 Neil Munro ["Hugh Foulis"] born, Inveraray Catherine Sinclair dies The Perpetual Curate, Oliphant 1865 Mary Findlater born, Lochearnhead W.E. Aytoun dies
1866 Jane Findlater born, Lochearnhead Miss Marjoribanks, Oliphant The Pentland Rising, Stevenson
1869 George Douglas Brown born, Ochiltree The Minister's Wife, Oliphant
1871 At the Back of the North Wind, MacDonald Johnny Gibb of Gushetneuk, Alexander
1872 Ballads and Lyrics of Old France, Lang The Princess and the Goblin, MacDonald
1873 David Livingstone dies, Africa
1875 John Buchan born, Perth
1877 Anna Buchan born
1878 David Lindsay born, London George John Whyte-Melville dies, Gloucestershire An Inland Voyage, Stevenson
1879 Catherine [Macfarlane] Carswell bron, Glasgow Ups and Downs, Swan
1880 The City of Dreadful Night, Thomson
1881 John Macdougall Hay born, Tarbert (Edward Montague) Compton Mackenzie born, West Hartlepool Thomas Carlyle dies Wild Adventures in Wild Places, Stables
1882 James Thomson dies The Human Inheritance, The New Hope, Motherhood and Other Poems, Sharp New Arabian Nights, Stevenson
1883 Aldersyde, Swan Treasure Island, Stevenson
1884 Carlowrie, Swan St. Mungo's City, Keddie
1885 A Child's Garden of Verses, Stevenson Kidnapped, Stevenson
1886 Helen Cruickshank born, Hillside The Crack of Doom, Minto Cruise of the Land Yacht Wanderer, Stables The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson
1887 Edwin Muir born, Deerness Logie Town, Keddie The Master of Ballantrae, Stevenson Myth, Ritual and Religion, Lang A Study in Scarlet, Doyle Totemism, Frazer
1888 G.R. Gleig dies, London Auld Licht Idylls, Barrie The Gold of Farnilee, Lang The Sport of Chance, Sharp
1889 Prince Prigio, Lang
1890 Willa Muir born, Shetland The Golden Bough, Frazer Perfervid, Davidson Poetic Gems, McGonagall The Sign of the Four, Doyle
1891 Neil M(iller) Gunn born, Dunbeath Dain agus Orain Gheidhlig, Macpherson In a Music-Hall, Davidson The White Company, Doyle
1892 Christopher Murray Grieve ["Hugh Macdiarmid"] born, Langholm
1893 George Blake born, Greenock William Minto dies, Aberdeen Fleet Street Ecologues, Davidson Pagan Papers, Grahame The Stickit Minister, Crockett
1894 William Alexander dies R.M. Ballantyne dies, Rome Robert Louis Stevenson dies, Vailima, Samoa Baptist Lake, Davidson Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, Watson The Lilac Sunbonnet, Crockett
1895 Days of Auld Lang Syne, Watson The Golden Age, Grahame Lilith, MacDonald My Own Fairy Book, Lang
1896 A(rchibald) J(oseph) Cronin born, Cardross The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard, Doyle The Green Graves of Balgowrie, Jane Findlater The Lost Pibroch, Neil Munro The Minister's Wife, Oliphant Sentimental Tommy, Barrie Weir of Hermiston, Stevenson (post.)
1897 Naomi [Haldane] Mitchison born, Edinburgh Margaret Oliphant dies, London The Little Minister, Barrie
1898 Mary Macpherson dies John Splendid, Munro
1899 Eric Linklater born, Penrath, Wales Love and a Sword, Brown The Story of Little Black Sambo, Bannerman