author
Ellen Emma Guthrie
A 19th-century writer who gathered Scottish folklore, customs, and religious history into lively, lasting books. Her work preserves the everyday traditions and remembered stories of Scotland at a time when many old practices were fading away.
1 Audiobook
Tales of the Covenanters
by Ellen Emma Guthrie
About the author
Ellen Emma Guthrie was a nineteenth-century author remembered for writing about Scottish history, folklore, and traditional life. Surviving records connected with her books show that she published Tales, Legends, and Historical Reminiscences of the Scottish Covenanters in 1862 and Old Scottish Customs, Local and General in 1885.
Her best-known work explores seasonal rituals, local beliefs, and community practices from across Scotland. Later descriptions of the book note that it drew on many years of collecting material, which fits the rich, wide-ranging picture it gives of customs that were already disappearing in her own time.
Because biographical information about Guthrie is scarce, she is known today mainly through her writing rather than through many personal details. Even so, her books continue to interest readers who enjoy Scottish folklore, social history, and the small traditions that reveal how people once lived.