William Dunbar

William Dunbar (born 1459 or 1460 - died by 1530) was a Scottish Makar poet active in the late fifteenth century and the early sixteenth century. He was closely associated with the court of King James IV and produced a large body of work in Scots distinguished by its great variation in themes and literary styles. He was probably a native of East Lothian.

From 1500, Dunbar was employed at the court of James IV in a role for which he received an annual pension. His duties are not recorded; but it is to this period that the bulk of his poetry can be dated. Several of Dunbar's poems were included in the Chepman and Myllar prints of 1508, the first books to be printed in Scotland.