Blind Harry

Blind Harry was given gifts of money by the King at New Year, as were other minor courtiers, but a payment on 2 January 1492 seems to relate to the singing of a ballad accompanied by two Gaelic harpers, "Ersche clareschaw", mentioned in adjacent entries.

Blind Harry claimed his work was based on a book by Father John Blair, Wallace's boyhood friend and personal chaplain.

This book has not been seen in modern times and may never have existed; the poet's attribution of his story to a written text may have been a literary device; many contemporary critics believe that Acts and Deeds is based on oral history and the national traditions of Blind Harry's homeland.

It also describes him adopting the disguises of a monk, an old woman, and a potter while a fugitive, and travelling to France to enlist support for the Scottish cause, there defeating two French champions, as well as a lion.

Harry is often considered inferior to Barbour as a poet, and has little of his moral elevation, but he surpasses him in graphic power, vividness of description, and variety of incident.

Similarly, the story of a mass hanging of Scots nobles at Ayr is described by Blind Harry, and is repeated in a number of places, including the film Braveheart, but is now regarded as unhistorical.