The Brahan Seer : the making of a legend, c1570-2001

• Main Author: Sutherland, Alexander Mackenzie
• Published: University of Aberdeen 2005
• Subjects: 133.3
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.425043

This thesis traces the legend of the Brahan Seer between the sixteenth and twenty-first centuries. It considers the seer figure in relation to aspects of Highland culture and society that shaped its development during this period. These include the practice and prosecution of witchcraft; the reporting of and scientific investigation of instances of second sight; and the perennial belief in and use of prophecy as a means of predicting events. In so doing the thesis provides a set of historicised contexts for understanding the genesis of the legend and how it changed over time. It also makes a contribution to the debates about not only witchcraft, second sight and prophecy but also the relationship between 'popular' and 'elite' culture in Scotland. By taking the Brahan Seer as a case study it argues that 'popular' culture is not antithetical to 'elite' culture but rather in constant (and complex) interaction with it.