Restoration of Montgomerie's pension
Poet involved
What happened
On 21 March 1589 a writ of privy seal issued at Holyrood House in Edinburgh restored and confirmed Alexander Montgomerie's earlier pension after it had been withheld during his absence abroad. The document noted that he had been continually detained in prison while overseas on the king's service. The renewal re-established his financial claim on the revenues of the see of Glasgow.
Literary impact
The restoration temporarily relieved Montgomerie's financial distress and allowed him to resume court connections, yet the intervening lawsuit over the pension generated a sequence of bitter sonnets. These poems sharpened his satirical edge and provided a personal record of grievance that remains among his most vivid occasional writing.
Source: Poems of Alexander Montgomerie and Other Pieces from Laing MS. No. 447, ed. George Stevenson
