SOURCE: Carlson, David R. “Skelton and Barclay, Medieval and Modern.” Early Modern Literary Studies 1, no. 1 (April 1995): 2.1-17.

In the essay below, Carlson explores the literary conflict between Barclay and John Skelton and how this antagonistic relationship signals a shift in English literary history.

Early Tudor literature was done in distinct circles, the centres of which were not coincident, and which overlapped little: the humanist circle, around More and Erasmus; in the later decades of the reign of Henry VIII, the “new company” of courtier-poets, in Puttenham's phrase, around Wyatt; and earlier, the less well-defined group of vernacular makers, professional or nearly professional English writers, comprising John Skelton, Alexander Barclay, and Stephen Hawes.¹ Within these circles, relations varied. Generally, they were amicable and supportive amongst the courtier-poets and the humanists, though intergenerational and other quarrels occurred. Amongst the vernacular makers, however, things were otherwise. Evidence of friendship or shared...