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Fairyland Lustre
Fairyland (Early Modern English: ''Faerie''; (Scottish mythology; cf. (Norse mythology)) in English and Scottish folklore is the fabulous land or abode of fairies or ''fays''. Old French (Early Modern English ) referred to an illusion or enchantment, the land of the ''faes''. Modern English (by the 17th century) ''fairy'' transferred the name of the realm of the ''fays'' to its inhabitants, e.g., the expression ''fairie knight'' in Edmund Spenser's ''The Faerie Queene'' refers to a "supernatural knight" or a "knight of Faerie" but was later re-interpreted as referring to a knight who is "a fairy". Folklore Fairyland may be referred to simply as ''Fairy'' or ''Faerie'', though that usage is an archaism. It is often the land ruled by the " Queen of Fairy", and thus anything from fairyland is also sometimes described as being from the "Court of the Queen of " or from the Seelie court in Scottish folklore. The Scots word or ' "fairyland" has other variant forms, attested in Scot ...
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Early Modern English
Early Modern English (sometimes abbreviated EModEFor example, or EMnE) or Early New English (ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transition from Middle English, in the late 15th century, to the transition to Modern English, in the mid-to-late 17th century. Before and after the accession of James I to the English throne in 1603, the emerging English standard began to influence the spoken and written Middle Scots of Scotland. The grammatical and orthographical conventions of literary English in the late 16th century and the 17th century are still very influential on modern Standard English. Most modern readers of English can understand texts written in the late phase of Early Modern English, such as the '' King James Bible'' and the works of William Shakespeare, and they have greatly influenced Modern English. Texts from the earlier phase of Early Modern English, suc ...
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Bessie Dunlop
Bessie Dunlop, Elizabeth Dunlop or Elizabeth Jack (died 1576), was a Scottish farmer's wife from fauldhouse who was strangled and then her remains burnt, at Edinburgh for the crime of sorcery, witchcraft, and incantations. Her case was unusual in the amount of fine detail related in her testimony and the lack of anything but positive or neutral outcomes of her recorded ministrations and actions. Her admission to the use of a familiar spirit and association with the fairies were the main cause of her conviction and her death sentence. Life and character Bessie was the wife of Andrew Jack of Lynn, Lyne, Lin, or Linn, a hamlet and the name of a glen through which the Caaf Water runs, lying in the Barony of Lynn, then owned by Robert, Master of Boyd, eldest son of Lord Boyd. It seems therefore that their farm lay near or at the bottom of the Lynn Glen on the Caaf Water, near Dalry in North Ayrshire, Scotland. She was married to Andrew Jack and her surname suggests an Ayrshire ...
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Seelie
Seelie is a term for fairies in Scottish folklore, appearing in the form of seely wights or The Seelie Court. The Northern and Middle English word (also , , ), and the Scots form , mean "happy", "lucky" or "blessed." Despite their name, the seelie folk of legend could be morally ambivalent and dangerous. Calling them "seelie," similar to names such as "good neighbors," may have been a euphemism to ward off their anger. Etymology The word derives from the Old English and and the Proto-West Germanic ''*sālīg'' (“blissful, happy”). The Modern Standard English word " silly" is also derived from this root. The antonym, ''unseely'' (also ''unsall'', ''unsell)'' means "unhappy", "misfortunate" or "unholy." Seelie wights Many Scottish ballads and tales tell of "Seilie wichts" or " wights," meaning blessed beings. Julian Goodare theorized that these were legendary nature spirits, similar to but distinct from fairies. Goodare additionally hypothesized that there was a sixtee ...
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Otherworld
In historical Indo-European religion, the concept of an otherworld, also known as an otherside, is reconstructed in comparative mythology. Its name is a calque of ''orbis alius'' (Latin for "other world/side"), a term used by Lucan in his description of the Celtic Otherworld. Comparable religious, mythological or metaphysical concepts, such as a realm of supernatural beings and a realm of the dead, are found in cultures throughout the world.''Gods, goddesses, and mythology'', Volume 11, C. Scott Littleton, Marshall Cavendish, 2005, , . Pp. 1286-1287 Spirits are thought to travel between worlds or layers of existence in such traditions, usually along an axis such as a giant tree, a tent pole, a river, a rope or mountains. Indo-European reconstruction Many Indo-European mythologies show evidence for a belief in some form of "Otherworld". In many cases, such as in Persian, Greek, Germanic, Celtic, Slavic and Indic mythologies, a river had to be crossed to allow entrance to it ...
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Childe Rowland
Childe Rowland is a fairy tale, the most popular version written by Joseph Jacobs in his ''English Fairy Tales'', published in 1890, based on an earlier version published in 1814 by Robert Jamieson. Jamieson's was repeating a "Scottish ballad", which he had heard from a tailor. Joseph Jacobs called the King of Elfland's palace "the Dark Tower" in his version, an addition he made that was not part of the original ballad. This harks to Shakespeare's ''King Lear'' and Robert Browning's poem " Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came". It is Aarne-Thompson-Uther type 312D, "Rescue by the Brother." Synopsis The story tells of how the four children of the Queen (by some accounts Guinevere), Childe Rowland, his two older brothers, and his sister, Burd Ellen, were playing ball near a church. Rowland kicked the ball over the church and Burd Ellen went to retrieve it, inadvertently circling the church "widdershins", or opposite the way of the sun, and disappeared. Rowland went to Merli ...
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Queen Of Elphame
Queen of Elphame or "Elf-hame" (-''hame'' stem only occurs in conjectural reconstructed orthography), in the folklore belief of Lowland Scotland and Northern England, designates the elfin queen of Faerie, mentioned in Scottish witch trials. In ballads and contemporary texts, she is referred to as Queen of Elphane, Elphen, or the Fairies. She is equivalent to the Queen of Fairy who rules Faërie or Fairyland. The character as described in witch trials has many parallels with the legends of ''Thomas the Rhymer'' and ''Tam Lin''. History of usage The actual text spelling is "Quene of Elfame" and other variants in the witch trial transcripts. The supposition of a ''- hame'' stem, leading to the etymological meaning "Elf-home" in the Scots language, is speculative on the part of Robert Pitcairn, the modern editor. The '' Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue'' lists only the '' Elfame'' and '' elphyne'' spellings, both defined as "Fairyland".DOST (''Dictionary of the Older Sco ...
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Robert Graves
Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was an English poet, soldier, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celticists and students of Irish mythology Irish mythology is the body of myths indigenous to the island of Ireland. It was originally Oral tradition, passed down orally in the Prehistoric Ireland, prehistoric era. In the History of Ireland (795–1169), early medieval era, myths were .... Robert Graves produced more than 140 works in his lifetime. His poems, his translations and innovative analysis of the Greek myths, his memoir of his early life—including his role in World War I—''Good-Bye to All That'' (1929), and his speculative study of poetic inspiration ''The White Goddess'' have never been out of print. He was also a renowned short story writer, with stories such as "The Tenement" still being popular today. He ear ...
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Thomas The Rhymer
Sir Thomas de Ercildoun, better remembered as Thomas the Rhymer (fl. c. 1220 – 1298), also known as Thomas Learmont or True Thomas, was a Scottish laird and reputed prophet from Earlston (then called "Erceldoune") in the Borders. Thomas' gift of prophecy is linked to his poetic ability. He is often cited as the author of the English '' Sir Tristrem'', a version of the Tristram legend, and some lines in Robert Mannyng's ''Chronicle'' may be the source of this association. It is not clear if the name ''Rhymer'' was his actual surname or merely a sobriquet. In literature, he appears as the protagonist in the tale about Thomas the Rhymer carried off by the " Queen of Elfland" and returned having gained the gift of prophecy, as well as the inability to tell a lie. The tale survives in a medieval verse romance in five manuscripts, as well as in the popular ballad "Thomas Rhymer" (Child Ballad number 37).Child Ballad #37. "Thomas the Rymer", The romance occurs as "Thoma ...
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Dictionary Of The Older Scottish Tongue
The ''Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue'' (DOST) is a 12-volume dictionary that documents the history of the Scots language covering Older Scots from the earliest written evidence in the 12th century until the year 1700. DOST was compiled over a period of some eighty years, from 1931 to 2002. Craigie and Aitken The fundamental principles of editorial policy were established under the authority of the first editor, Sir William Craigie, who was also the third editor of the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (1901–1928) and co-editor of the first ''OED'' Supplement (1933). Craigie was followed by Professor A. J. Aitken, who endorsed Craigie's principles, but he was nonetheless aware that the coverage of the language provided in Volumes I and II still had some room for improvement. He more than doubled the number of source texts read for the dictionary and launched a new reading programme, with more than 50 new voluntary excerptors, reading both printed editions and, mostly on ...
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Robert Sempill The Elder
Robert Sempill (the elder) (c. 1530–1595), in all probability a cadet of illegitimate birth of the noble house of Sempill or Semple, was a Scottish ballad-writer and satirist. Very little is known of Sempill's life. He was probably a soldier, and must have held some office at the Scottish court, as his name appears in the Lord Treasurer's books in February 1567 – 1568, and his writings show him to have had an intimate knowledge of court affairs. As a Protestant, he was a bitter opponent of Queen Mary and of the Catholic Church, authoring ballads supporting action against Queen Mary. Sempill was present at the siege of Leith (1559-1560) and at the siege of Edinburgh Castle, serving with the army of James Douglas, Earl of Morton. He was in Paris in 1572, but fled the country after the massacre of St Bartholomew. Three of his poems appear in the Bannatyne Manuscript. His chief works are: *''The Ballat maid vpoun Margret Fleming callit the Flemyng bark'' *''The defence of ...
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Fife, Scotland
Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the south, Perth and Kinross to the west and Clackmannanshire to the south-west. The largest settlement is the city of Dunfermline, and the administrative centre is Glenrothes. The area has an area of and had a resident population of in , making it Scotland's largest local authority area by population. The population is concentrated in the south, which contains Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes. The north is less densely populated, and the largest town is St Andrews on the north-east coast. The area is governed by the unitary Fife Council. It covers the same area as the Counties of Scotland, historic county of the same name. Fife was one of the major Picts, Pictish monarchy, kingdoms, known as ''Fib'', and is still commonly known as the ...
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Alison Pearson (accused Witch)
Alison Pearson (or Pierson) (or Alesoun Pierson) (born 1533, died Edinburgh 1588) was executed for witchcraft. On being tried in 1588, she confessed to visions of a fairy court. Background Alison Pearson was born 1533. She lived in Boarhills (Byrehill), Fife, near St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ..., Fife. She worked as a healer around the St Andrews area with a ghost of her uncle, William Simpson, as a spirit guide. Simpson's ghost associated with fairies and a vision of him had cured Pearson of illness when she was a child. Witchcraft She was investigated for witchcraft in 1583 by Patrick Adamson, Archbishop of St Andrews; however, when he was ill and others could not cure him, treatment by Pearson led to his full recovery. Adamson's enemies claimed ...
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