Bannatyne Manuscript

The Bannatyne Manuscript is an anthology of literature compiled in Scotland in the sixteenth century. It is an important source for the Scots poetry of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The manuscript contains texts of the poems of the great makars, many anonymous Scots pieces and works by medieval English poets.^[1]

It was collected in 1568 by the Edinburgh merchant George Bannatyne^[2] when he was isolated in his home, escaping the plague that had reached Edinburgh.^[3] Bannatyne was motivated by his desire to preserve Scottish literary heritage when compiling this anthology^[4] and also included some of his own writing in the manuscript. Contrary to popular claims,^[5] it is not the earliest surviving record of the word "fuck".^{[6][7][8][9][10][11]}

According to the text of the manuscript itself, it represents;

Ane most godlie mirrie and lustie rapsodie made be sundrie learned Scots poets and written be George Bannatyne in the tyme of his youth.^[12]