The Lesson on the Map: The Geography of the Scottish Folk Play, and its Implications for a Theory of Political and Cultural Origin

The Scottish folk play attracted little synoptic interested before Cawte, Helm and Peacock compiled their index for English Ritual Drama (1967). Using that publication as a starting-point, an attempt has been made, utilising oral and written sources, to expand the Scottish folk play gazetteer. The data gathered so far has been examined primarily on a geographical basis. Firstly it has been compared with the 1967 Index. Secondly it has ben examined as a possible reflection of the ethnography of the relevant area of Scotland from the time of the Roman Empire to the fourteenth century. This has been undertaken with a view to determine which, if any, of the ethnic influences in the country (which, after the "Romans', included the Welsh, the Scots, the Northumbrians, the Norse, the Danes and, with the feudalisation of Scotland, the Anglo-French and the Anglo-Flemish) could be construed as determinants for a theory or origin, in terms of both historical date and as an exponent of community interaction.