The Brahan Seer is a legendary figure known throughout Scotland and the Scottish Diaspora and
indeed anywhere there is an interest in looking into the future. This book traces the legend of
the Seer between the sixteenth and twenty-first centuries. It considers the seer figure in
relation to aspects of Scottish Highland culture and society that shaped its development during
this period. These include the practice and prosecution of witchcraft the reporting 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 book provides a set of historicised
contexts for understanding the genesis of the legend and how it changed over time through a
synthesis of historical events oral tradition folklore and literary Romanticism. It makes a
contribution to the debates not only about witchcraft second sight and prophecy but also about
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.
