The Lay of the Last Minstrel: Sir Walter Scott and the Border Minstrel Tradition

by Rupert Ferguson

Examines Sir Walter Scott's lifelong obsession for the ballads of his native Scottish Borderlands. The book looks not only at Scott's editing and publication of his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border - a valuable source for musicians and folklorists alike, but also his own composition of songs and ballads. The ballads themselves are examined in proper historical perspective, and their origins traced back in some cases to the same ancient bardic sources from whence medieval minstrels derived their own inspiration.

In addition to collecting the ballads themselves, Scott went to considerable effort to investigate much of the folklore surrounding them; as well as researching the legendary transitions of the areas where the ballads were originally composed. This shows that Scott was as much concerned with preserving the essence of the oral culture of which these ballads were a part, as he was with preserving the ballads themselves, portraying him as the true successor to the minstrel tradition, which can be traced right back to the magician Merlin and the Dark Age poets of the Arthurian period. We can thus recognise Scott for what he truly was; the last of the true bards.

Paperback

First published November 1, 2001

About the author

Rupert Ferguson is a writer, journalist, film maker and folk singer.

Reviews

[Roy Allan Prosper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rupert is a profound type who had spent years exploring many arts and crafts as well as martial arts I hear and Goan trance and so could be called a lot more interesting than many of those who frequent the usual storytelling volumes found here. I believe someone who lives as passionately as Rupes does from what I read elsewhere when researching..will find jealous critics but his Kings Road dance craze scene has also left many with a passion for the best sort of arts; diversification of self and not likely to be taking time out on the outlying places like Gaza where some druggies seem to think it is okay to poke fun at starving!

[Graeme · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rupert Ferguson's thesis is that elements of the cultures of the post-Roman Celtic and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Britain have been transmitted through Medieval chivalric romance to the Scottish Border ballads, many of which were collected by Walter Scott in his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802). While I believe that there is enough persuasive evidence to support this proposition, many parts of his book are highly speculative and conjectural. Phrases such as 'surely it is not beyond the bounds of possibility' abound, and do some very heavy lifting.

[Charlie Wiseman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rupert always manages to see deeper into subjects than those who claim knowledge and would appear to me to be the epitome of understanding what motivated Walter Scott, so disabled persoanlly but like TS Eliot all the better for it, as he persevered at leaving a socially revolutionary joyful legacy, a person who inspires and is admired today. Long live Rupert's many esoteric rambles and delvings!

[Charlie Wise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like all Rupert does he fills the void with a passion and scholarship that leaves most behind. So it is little wonder the family of Sir Walter Scott treat him as a distant, distinct relative! I thoroughly recommend reading any of his analyses, also on multimedia I believe, updating on antiquity.

[Ewen McGregor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellently researched, full of facts that bend the mind and somehow relevant to an age that loves magic as a return to normal. Rupert keeps aloft by drawing his hand wide..so that we can see his love of magic is a love of music and the scene that ended on the edge of Gaza was in its way predictable..he always turned the other cheek at those who gambled at drug-dealing, when he and a Mark(?) or someone first started Goa scene..they made it relevant to the chic Chelsea set...but all these folk are to be honest a little unsettling in that they try to name a scene that is about spirituality...one about filthy lucre..we all need to...try also a Return to magic and Merlin.