Background
He was born in Dundee about 1495, and matriculated at St Andrews University in 1514. He was the eldest son of James Wedderburn, merchant of Dundee (described in documents as "at the West Kirk Style" to distinguish him from others of the name), and of Janet Barry, sister of John Barry, vicar of Dundee.
Education
He studied at St Andrews University. John Wedderbum graduated M. A. at St Andrews in 1528.
Career
James Wedderbuxn, who had gone to St Andrews in 1514, was for a time in France preparing for a mercantile career. On his return to Dundee in 1514 he received instruction in the Reformed faith from Friar Hewat, a Dominican monk.
He composed a play on the beheading of St John the Baptist, and another, a morality satirizing church abuses, in the setting of episodes from the story of Dionysius the Tyrant, both of which were performed in 1540 in the play-field of Dundee.
Neither of these nor a third ascribed to him by Calderwood, the historian, are extant.
A charge of heresy was brought against him, but he escaped to Franсe, and established himself as a merchant at Rouen or Dieppe, where he lived unmolested until his death in 1553, although attempts were made by the Scottish community there to bring further charges against him.
He took priests' orders and appears to have held the chaplaincy of St Matthews, Dundee, but in March 1539 he was accused of heresy, apparently for having, in conjunction with his brothers, written some anti-Catholic ballads.
The death of James V and the known leanings of the regent, the earl of Arran, to reform, encouraged many exiles, Wedderburn among them, to revisit Scotland. It is probable that he was the author of the greater portion of the Compendious Book of Psalms and Spiritual Songs which contains a large number of hymns from the German. The enormous influence of the collection, with its added Glide and Godlie Ballatis, on Scottish reform, is attested by the penalties enacted against the authors and printers of these books.
John Wedderburn was in Dundee as late as 1546, when he was obliged to flee to England. John Johnston, in his Coronis martyrum says he died in exile in 1556.
Robert Wedderbum, who graduated M. A. in 1530, was ordained priest, and succeeded his uncle John Barry as vicar of Dundee; but before he came into actual possession he also was suspected of heresy, and was compelled to flee to France and Germany. He returned to Scotland in 1546.
He appears to have been actual vicar of Dundee in 1552. His sons were legitimized in January 1553. The earliest known edition of the Compendious Book of Psalms and Spiritual Songs (of which an unique copy is extant) dates back to 1567 though the contents were probably published in broad sheets during John Wedderburn's lifetime.
It consists of a calendar and almanac, a catechism, hymns, many of them translations from the German, metrical versions of the Psalms, and a collection of ballads and satirical poems against the Catholic church and clergy.
The separate shares of the brothers in this compilation cannot be settled, but Robert is said to have edited the whole and added the section of " gude and godlie ballatis. " Many of these ballads are adapted from secular songs. Editions of the book appeared in 1578 (printed hy John Ros), in 1600 (by Robert Smith), in 1621 (by Andro Hart); selections were published by Lord Hailes (1765) and by Sibbald (1802); a reprint of the 1621 volume was edited by Sir J. G. Dalyell in Scotish Poems of the Sixteenth Century (1801); and of the 1578 volume by David Laing in 1868.
In 1897 Professor A. F. Mitchell reprinted the 1567 volume (expurgated) for the Scottish Text Society. " Vedderburn's " Complainte of Scoilande (1549) hasbeen variously assigned to Robert Weddcrburn, to Sir David Lyndsay and to Sir James Inglis, who was chaplain of the Abbey of Cambuskenneth from about 1508 to 1550.
It is a prose treatise pleading for the maintenance of the Scottish alliance with France, written by a determined enemy of England and of the English party in Scotland. It is dedicated to Mary of Guise, and consists of the " Dreme " of Dame Scotia and her complaint against her three sons.
These two sections are connected by a "Monologue Recreatif, " in which the author displays his general knowledge of popular songs, dances and tales, of astronomy, natural history and naval matters. Four copies of this work are extant, but in none is the title-page preserved.
In the Harleian catalogue the book is entered as Vedderburn's Complainte of Scoilande, wyth ane Exortatione to the thre Estaits to be vigilante in the Dejfens of their Public Veil (1549).
An unsuccessful attempt was made by the Scottish factors there to have him prosecuted by the bishop of Rouen, and he remained in France until his death in 1553, not 1565, as sometimes stated.
Religion
He escaped to Wittenberg, where with other of his compatriots he received the teaching of the German reformers. There he gained an acquaintance with the Lutheran hymns, which he turned to account on his return to Scotland.