Makars' Court


Makars' Court is a courtyard in central Edinburgh, Scotland. It forms part of Lady Stair's Close, which connects the Lawnmarket with The Mound to the north, and is next to the Writers' Museum. Described as an "evolving national literary monument", the courtyard incorporates quotations from Scottish literature inscribed onto paving slabs. The quotations represent works in the languages used by Scots past and present: Gaelic, Scots, English, and Latin.

Selection

The Scots language term makar denotes an author or writer, though stressing their role as a "skilled and versatile worker in the craft of writing". Since 2002 the city of Edinburgh has appointed its own official Makar.
In 1997, twelve Scottish writers were selected by the Saltire Society, and quotations from their works were inscribed on stone slabs installed in the area adjacent to the museum. The first was unveiled by Ronald Harwood, then president of International PEN, and the rest by poet Iain Crichton Smith. Further inscriptions continue to be added to the Court.

List of makars commemorated

MakarImageLanguageQuotationWork quotedDate of work
J. K. AnnandScots"Sing it aince for pleisure / Sing it twice for joy"1970
John BarbourScots"Fredome is a noble thing"The Brus1375
James BoswellEnglish"I rattled down the High Street in high elevation of spirits"London Journal1762
James BridieEnglish"Who knows the heart of a man and what moves in that darkness?"Susannah and the Elders1937
George Mackay BrownEnglish"In the fire of images / Gladly I put my hand""Hamnavoe"1959
John BuchanEnglish"We can only repay our debt to the past by putting the future in debt to us"An Address to the people of Canada on the Coronation of George VI1937
George BuchananLatin"Populo enim jus est ut imperium cui velit deferat"
De Iure Regni apud Scottos1579
Robert BurnsScots"Man to man the world o'er / Shall brithers be for a that""Is There for Honest Poverty"1795
Helen CruickshankEnglish"the spirit endures for ever""Spring in the Mearns"1935
David DaichesEnglish"Bridge-building is my vocation"Natural Light: Portraits of Scottish Writers1985
Gavin DouglasScots"mak it braid and plane / Kepand na sudron bot our awyn langage"Eneados1513
William DunbarScots"The flesche is brukle, the Feynd is sle / Timor Mortis conturbat me"Lament for the Makars1505
Dorothy DunnettEnglish"Where are the links of the chain... joining us to the past?"Checkmate1975
Robert FergussonScots"Auld Reikie, wale o ilka town""Auld Reikie"
James Allan FordEnglish"Sing out the silence, fill for ever and ever the emptiness"A Statue for a Public Place1965
John GaltScots"birr and smeddum"Annals of the Parish1821
Robert GariochScots"in simmer, whan aa sorts foregether / in Embro to the ploy""Embro to the Ploy"1977
Neil M. GunnEnglish"Knowledge is high in the head... but the salmon of wisdom swims deep"The Green Isle of the Great Deep1944
Robert HenrysonScots"Blissed be sempill lyfe withoutin dreid"The Moral Fabillis1480s
Violet JacobScots"There's muckle lyin yont the Tay that's mair to me nor life"Flemington1911
David LyndsayScots"Lat us haif the bukis necessare / To commoun weill"Ane Dialog betuix Experience and Ane Courteour1554
Fionn MacCollaEnglish"my roots in the soil of Alba"The Albannach1932
Hugh MacDiarmidScots"Drums in the Walligate, pipes in the air / The wallopin' thistle is ill to bear"A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle1926
Sorley MacLeanGaelic"nan robh againn Alba shaor / Alba co-shinte ri ar gaol"
"Am Boilseabhach"
Robert McLellanScots"The pouer to bigg a braw warld in his brain / Marks man the only craitur that can greit"The Carlin Moth1947
Lachlan Mor MacMhuirichGaelic"A Chlanna Cuinn cuimhnichibh / Cruas an àm na h-iorghaile"
Harlaw Brosnachadh1411
Elizabeth Melville, Lady CulrossScots"Though tyrants threat, though Lyons rage and rore
Defy them all, and feare not to win out"
Ane Godlie Dreame1603
Naomi MitchisonEnglish"Go back far enough and all humankind are cousins"Early in Orcadia1987
Neil MunroEnglish"And yet, and yet, this New Road will some day be the Old Road, too"The New Road1914
Tom ScottScots"Weird hou men maun aye be makin war / Insteid o things they need"Brand the Builder1975
Sir Walter ScottEnglish"This is my own, my native land!""The Lay of the Last Minstrel"1805
Nan ShepherdEnglish"Its a grand thing to get leave to live"The Quarry Wood1928
Sydney Goodsir SmithScots"Bards hae sung o lesser luves than I o thee / Oh my great follie and my granderie"Under the Eildon Tree1948
Iain Crichton SmithGaelic and English"Let our three-voiced country sing in a new world""The Beginning of a New Song"1999
Muriel SparkEnglish"The Transfiguration of the Commonplace"The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie1961
Robert Louis StevensonEnglish"There are no stars so lovely as Edinburgh street lamps"The Silverado Squatters1883
Nigel TranterEnglish"You intend to bide here? To be sure. Can you think of anywhere better?"Columba1987
Douglas YoungScots"He was eident, he was blye, in Scotland's cause""For Willie Soutar"1943