Scottish writer and poet, a born storyteller and master of dialogue, one of the greatest historical novelists. Scott's historical romances enlarged the technical repertoire of prose fiction, raised its cultural status, and bound it to the modern publishing industry. Scott's influence is seen in the works of James Fenimore Cooper, Alexandre Dumas, and Aleksandr Pushkin, among others.

"Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, And men below, and saints above; For love is heaven, and heaven is love."
(from The Lay of the Last Minstrel, 1805)

Scott was born in Edinburgh the son of a solicitor Walter Scott and Anne, a daughter of professor of medicine. An early illness left him lame in the right leg, but he grew up to be over six feet and of great physical endurance. Scott's interest in the old Border tales and ballads had been awakened early, and he devoted much of his leisure to the exploration of the Border country. He attended Edinburgh High School (1779-1783) and studied at Edinburgh University arts and law (1783-86, 1789-92). Scott was apprenticed to his father in 1786 and in 1792 he was called to the bar. In 1799 he was appointed sheriff deputy of the county of Selkirk. After an unsuccessful love affair with Williamina Belsches of Fettercairn, Scott married Margaret Charlotte Charpentier (or Charpenter), daughter of Jean Charpentier of Lyon in France, in 1797. They had five children.

In 1802-03, Scott's first major work, MINSTRELSY OF THE SCOTTISH BORDER, appeared. He had already translated from German The Chase and William and Helen (1796) and Goetz of Berlichingen (1799) from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's play.

As a poet Scott rose to fame with the publication of THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL (1805) about an old border country legend. It became a huge success and made him the most popular author of the day. It was followed by MARMION (1808), a historical romance in tetrameter, set in 1513, concerning the attempts of Lord Marmion to marry the rich Lady Clare. THE LADY IN THE LAKE was published in 1810, and ROKEBY in 1813. Scott's last major poem, THE LORD OF THE ISLES, was published in 1815.

Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er,
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking,
Dream of battled fields no more,
Days of danger, nights of waking.
(from The Lady of the Lake, 1810)

In 1806 Scott became clerk to the Court of Session in Edinburgh. To increase his income he started a printing and publishing business with his friend James Ballantyne. In the 1810s the firm found itself in financial difficulties, and Scott spent his time labouring for his publishers, much of it hack editorial work. During this period Scott also expanded his Abbotsford estate, but it was not until 1826 when the final crash came. He accepted all Ballantyne's debts and decided to pay them off with his writings. However, difficulties persisted throughout the best of Scott's writing career.

In the 1810s Scott published several novels anonymously or under the pseudonym Jebediah Cleisbotham or 'Author of Waverley.' From this period date such works as WAVERLEY (1814), dealing with the rebellion of 1745, which attempted to restore a Scottish family to the British throne. The book set the classic pattern of the historical novel. It has a hero, whose loyalty is split between two rulers and two ways of life. Scott continued with GUY MANNERING (1815) and TALES OF MY LANDLORD (1816), consisting of The Black Dwarf and Old Mortality. ROB ROY (1817) is a portrait of one of Scotland's greatest heroes - the novel sold out its first edition of 10 000 copies in two weeks. THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN (1818) is the story of Jeanie Deans's journey to London to appeal on behalf of her sister who has been wrongfully charged with child murder. THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR (1819) is a novel of loss, love and vengeance, a venture into the gothic genre. In A LEGEND OF MONTROSE (1819) Scott draws a picture of the campaigns of 1644. IVANHOE (1819) is set in the reign of Richard I and depicts the rivalry between the King and his wicked brother John (King 1199-1216).

In the 1820s appeared KENILWORTH (1821), THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL (1822), PEVERIL OF THE PEAK (1823), QUENTIN DURWARD (1823), THE TALISMAN (1825), WOODSTOCK (1826), THE SURGEON'S DAUGHTER (1827), ANNE OF GEIERSTEIN (1829). After the financial crash of 1825-26 the author's anonymity was destroyed, and he was exposed to the general public as Sir Walter Scott.

Scott's historical novels fall into three groups; those set in the background of Scottish history, from Waverly to A Legend of Montrose; a group which takes up themes from the Middle Ages and Reformation times, from Ivanhoe to Talisman, and his remaining books, from Woodstock onwards. Scott's dramatic works include HALIDON HILL (1922), MACDUFF'S CROSS (1823), THE DOOM OF DEVORGOIL, A MELODRAMA (1830), and AUCHINDRANE (1830), which is based on the case of Mure of Auchindrane in Pitcairn's Ancient Criminal Trials.

In 1820 Scott was created a baronet. A few years later he founded the Bannatyne Club, which published old Scottish documents. Scott visited France in 1826 to collect material for his LIFE OF NAPOLEON, which was published in 9 volumes in 1827. A few years earlier Scott had started to keep his Journal, recording his deteriorating health and other misfortunes in undiscourageable spirit. His wife, Lady Scott, died in 1826, and the author himself had a stroke in 1830. The following year Scott sailed to Italy. After returning to England in 1832, he died on September 21. Scott was buried beside his ancestors in Dryburgh Abbey. From the profits of his writings all his debts were ultimately paid.

Come fill up my cup, come fill up my can,
Come saddle your horses, and call up your men;
Come open the West Port, and let me gang free,
And it's room for the bonnets of Bonny Dundee!
(from The Doom of Devorgoil, 1830)

Scott's influence as a novelist is profound. He established the form of the historical novel and his work inspired such writers as Bulwer-Lytton, G. Eliot, and the Brontës. In the 1930s European Marxist critics rediscovered his work, and interpreted them in terms of historicism. However, modernist taste still classifies Scott in the category of the sub literary or juvenile, although the last decades of the Twentieth Century has seen a significant revival of critical and scholarly interest.

Ivanhoe (1819) - A tale of chivalry set in the age of Richard the Lion-Hearted. Wilfred of Ivanhoe loves Rowena, but his father plans to marry her to Athelstane of Coningsburgh. Ivanhoe serves with King Richard in the crusades. The King's brother John tries to usurp the throne with the help of Norman barons. Richard appears in disguise at the tournament at Ashby de la Zouch, where he helps Ivanhoe to defeat John's knights. At the tournament Sir Brian falls in love with Rebecca, a beautiful Jewess. She is taken captive with her father Isaac, Rowena, Ivanhoe, and Cedric by the Norman barons and imprisoned in Torquilstone. The King and his band of outlaws, among them Robin Hood, release the prisoners. Rebecca is carried off by Bois-Guilbert and charged with witchcraft. Ivanhoe appears as her champion, opposing Bois-Guilbert, who dies. Rebecca, seeing Ivanhoe's love for Rowena, leaves England with her father. - Michael Ragussis has argued that Scott's Isaac the Jew and his daughter Rebecca restaged England's medieval persecution of Jews and criticized the barbarity of persecution and forced conversion. Rebecca is a healer and a voice of moderation between Saxon knights and Normans.

For further reading: Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart. by J.G. Lockhart (1837-38, 7 vols.); Sir Walter Scott by J. Buchan (1932); Scott: The Scott and Scotland by E. Muir (1936); A történelmi regény by Georg Lucács (1937 - transl. as The Historical Novel); Bibliography of Sir Walter Scott, 1797-1940 by James C. Corson (1943); The Waverly Novels by J.T. Hillhouse (1968); Walter Scott: Modern Judgements, ed. by D.D. Devlin (1968); Critical Heritage, ed. by J.O. Hayden (1970); Sir Walter Scott: the Great Unknown by Edgar Johnson (1970, 2 vols.); The Author of Waverly by D.D. Devlin (1971); Walter Scott by T. Crawford (1982); Scott and his Influence by J.H. Alexander and D. Hewitt (1983); Walter Scott: The Making of the Novelist by Jane Millgate (1984); Secret Leaves: The Novels of Walter Scott by Judith Wilt (1985); Modern Romance and Transformation of the Novel by Ian Duncan (1992); "Writing Nationalist History" by Micheal Ragussis ( in English Literary History 60:1, Spring 1993); The Life of Walter Scott by John Sutherland (1995); Critical Essays on Sir Walter Scott, ed. by Harry E. Shaw (1996) - See also: Prosper Merimée, J.F. Cooper, Washington Irving .

• THE EVE OF ST. JOHN, 1800
• MINSTRELSY OF THE SCOTTISH BORDER, 1802-03
• THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL, 1805
• BALLADS AND LYRICAL PIECES, 1806
• MARMION, 1808
• THE LADY IN THE LAKE, 1810
• ROKEBY, 1813
• THE BRIDAL OF TRIERMAIN, 1813
• THE WAVERLY NOVELS: Guy Mannering, 1815 - The Antiquary, 1816, The Black Dwarf, 1816
• BORDER ANTIQUITES OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND, 1814
• THE LORD OF THE ISLES, 1815
• GUY MANNERING, 1815
• THE FIELD OF WATERLOO, 1815
• PAUL'S LETTERS TO HIS KINSFOLK, 1816
• OLD MORTALITY, 1816
• TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 1816 - The Black Dwarf and Old Mortality
• ROB ROY, 1817
• HAROLD, THE DAUNTLESS, 1817
• THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN, 1818
• THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR, 1819
• A LEGEND OF MONTROSE, 1819
• IVANHOE, 1819. - film 1952, dir. by Richard Thorpe; television film 1982, dir. by Douglas Camfield; television series 1957-58, starring Roger Moore
• THE ABBOT, 1820
• THE MONASTERY, 1820
• THE PIRATE, 1821
• KENILWORTH, 1821
• THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL, 1822
• HALIDON HILL, 1822
• QUENTIN DURWARLD, 1823
• PEVERIL OF THE PEAK, 1823
• ST. RONAN'S WELL, 1823
• MACDUFF'S CROSS, 1823
• QUENTIN DURWARD, 1823
• REDGAUNTLER, 1824
• THE TALISMAN, 1825
• THE BETROTHED, 1825
• LIVES OF THE NOVELISTS, 1825
• WOODSTOCK, 1826
• THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE, 1827 (9 vols.)
• CHRONICLES OF THE CANONGATE, 1827
• MISCELLANEOUS PROSE, 1827
• THE SURGEON'S DAUGHTER, 1827
• THE TALES OF A GRANDFATHER, 1827-30
• THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH, 1828
• ANNE OF GEIERSTEIN, 1829
• TALES OF A GRANDFATHER, 1828-31
• THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND, 1829-30
• LETTERS ON DEMONOLOGY AND WITCHCRAFT, 1830
• ESSAYS ON BALLAD POETRY, 1830
• THE DOOM OF DEVORGOIL, A MELODRAMA, 1830
• AUCHINDRANE OR THE AYRSHIRE TRAGEDY, 1830
• LETTERS ON DEMONOLOGY AND WITCHCRAFT, 1830
• COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS, 1832
• CASTLE DANGEROUS, 1832
• THE WAVERLEY NOVELS, 1829-33 (48 vols.)
• POETICAL WORKS, 1833-34 (12 vols.)
• MISCELLANEOUS PROSE, 1834-71 (30 vols.)
• THE JOURNAL, 1890 (republished 1939-36 in 3 vols.)
• THE PRIVATE LETTER-BOOKS OF SIR WALTER SCOTT, 1930
• SIR WALTER'S POST-BAG, 1932
• THE LETTERS OF SIR WALTER SCOTT, 1932-37 (12 vols. ed. by H.J.C. Grierson)