Queen of Elphame

This page is about the elf queen and Elfland of Scottish tradition. For the broader context, see Fairy Queen, Fairyland, and Seelie court
From Thomas the Rhymer, "Under the Eildon tree Thomas met the lady," illustrated by Katharine Cameron

Queen of Elphame[1] or "Elf-hame" (-hame stem only occurs in conjectural reconstructed orthography[2][3]), in the folklore belief of Lowland Scotland and Northern England, designates the elfin queen of Faerie, mentioned in Scottish witch trials. In ballads and contemporary texts, she is referred to as Queen of Elphane, Elphen, or the Fairies. She is equivalent to the Queen of Fairy who rules Faërie or Fairyland. The character as described in witch trials has many parallels with the legends of Thomas the Rhymer and Tam Lin.[4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference pitcairn-idx-elphame was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pitcairn-elfhame-alison was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pitcairn-elfhame-bessie was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Child (1884b).