For a while, I’ve been working on an edition of prophecies and romances connected with Thomas of Erceldoune, or Thomas the Rhymer. Tom was a real person who lived sometime in the 13th century and, according to a romance written in the following century, was carried off to the Otherworld by the queen of the faeries, as a result of which he aquired the gift of prophecy. Probably none of his original prophecies, if he ever actually uttered any, survive. Still, he remained a popular figure in (mostly) Scottish literature for a good few centuries after his lifespan, serving as a useful mouthpiece for stories about how the English would eventually get what was coming to them in the continual wars and border skirmishes between the two countries.
Currently reading Sikes’ book and haven’t come to the foot stuff yet. Great write up.