St Baldred of the Bass, a Pictish Legend

This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. James Miller's 1824 collection draws its power from the legends, landscapes, and histories of East Lothian and Berwickshire, where saints, lovers, and warriors move through a world of sea cliffs, ruined castles, and feudal memory. At its heart is Saint Baldred of the Bass, a romantic and reverent vision of the Pictish hermit whose holiness is bound to the Bass Rock, Tyningham, and the early Christian conversion of Scotland. Miller follows Baldred from miracle-haunted life to contested burial, turning ecclesiastical dispute into mock-epic drama before revealing the saint's sanctity through wonder, prophecy, and divine signs. The collection then widens into chivalric romance with Alan of Winton and Margaret Seton: a courtly love story shaped by grief, danger, and rescue, where a boar hunt becomes a moment of heroic deliverance. Their hasty marriage leads into war, moonlit escape, burning towers, and castle siege, with a young page's hidden device aiding defense. The final combat between Alan and a masked knight brings victory at the cost of heartbreak when the fallen foe proves to be Elphingston, sealing the poem's blend of devotion, violence, and tragic honor.