John Barbour

John Barbour (c. 1320–1395) was a Scottish churchman and poet, Archdeacon of Aberdeen from 1357. He travelled to Oxford and France to study and served as an auditor of the royal exchequer under Robert II.

His long poem The Bruce (c. 1375), written in Older Scots octosyllabic couplets, tells of the life and deeds of Robert the Bruce and Sir James Douglas in the Wars of Independence, and is the earliest major work of Scottish literature. Its address to freedom, 'A! fredome is a noble thing!', is among the best-known lines in Scots.