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Title: The Lay of the Last Minstrel
Author: Walter Scott
Year of Publication: 1805 (19th century)
Type: Poetry
Genre: Adventure/Thriller, Historical Poem, RomanceSupernatural,
Plot Summary: A romance of Border chivalry, this extended poem (originally intended for inclusion in the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (q.v.) is recited by an old minstrel to the Duchess of Buccleuch at Newark Castle (c.1685). In thanks for her hospitality, the minstrel recites a ballad about the Duchess’s 16th century ancestor, the Lady of Branksome Hall (Branxholme Castle in Teviotdale). The latter was widowed when, among others, the English Lord Cranstoun murdered him in a quarrel. The same Cranstoun is now wooing her daughter Margaret, and to ruin the affair the Lady resorts to sorcery. She sends a retainer, Deloraine (named after his castle on Ettrick), to Melrose Abbey to secure the wizard Michael Scott’s (q.v.) buried book. Returning, Deloraine fights and is wounded by Cranstoun, whose goblinlike servant steals the book and uses its powers to lure Lady Branksome’s infant son into danger. The boy is captured by another English lord, Dacre, who lays siege to Branksome and uses the child as a bargaining tool. Again using the goblin and the book’s magic – Cranstoun disguises himself as Deloraine, defeats Dacre in a duel and restores the son to his mother. Cranstoun marries Margaret, and Michael Scott’s ghost appears at the wedding to reclaim the goblin as his servant. (See also ‘Robert McLennan’.) Scott’s goblin was based on a supposedly real one at Todshawhill in Eskdalemuir.
SITEMAP | LINKS | TERMS & CONDITIONS | © Edinburgh Film Focus 2009
Home | Title detail page
Title: The Lay of the Last Minstrel
Author: Walter Scott
Year of Publication: 1805 (19th century)
Type: Poetry
Genre: Adventure/Thriller, Historical Poem, RomanceSupernatural,
Plot Summary: A romance of Border chivalry, this extended poem (originally intended for inclusion in the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (q.v.) is recited by an old minstrel to the Duchess of Buccleuch at Newark Castle (c.1685). In thanks for her hospitality, the minstrel recites a ballad about the Duchess’s 16th century ancestor, the Lady of Branksome Hall (Branxholme Castle in Teviotdale). The latter was widowed when, among others, the English Lord Cranstoun murdered him in a quarrel. The same Cranstoun is now wooing her daughter Margaret, and to ruin the affair the Lady resorts to sorcery. She sends a retainer, Deloraine (named after his castle on Ettrick), to Melrose Abbey to secure the wizard Michael Scott’s (q.v.) buried book. Returning, Deloraine fights and is wounded by Cranstoun, whose goblinlike servant steals the book and uses its powers to lure Lady Branksome’s infant son into danger. The boy is captured by another English lord, Dacre, who lays siege to Branksome and uses the child as a bargaining tool. Again using the goblin and the book’s magic – Cranstoun disguises himself as Deloraine, defeats Dacre in a duel and restores the son to his mother. Cranstoun marries Margaret, and Michael Scott’s ghost appears at the wedding to reclaim the goblin as his servant. (See also ‘Robert McLennan’.) Scott’s goblin was based on a supposedly real one at Todshawhill in Eskdalemuir.
SITEMAP | LINKS | TERMS & CONDITIONS | © Edinburgh Film Focus 2009