In Scottish folklore, what fairy queen rules the court of Elphame?

In Scottish folklore, the fairy queen who rules the court of Elphame is the Queen of Elphame. The name appears in several forms, including Queen of Elfame, Queen of Elphane, and Queen of Elphen, reflecting historical Scots spellings rather than different characters.

The figure is associated with Fairyland in Lowland Scottish and northern English tradition. References occur especially in sixteenth-century witch-trial records. Alison Pearson’s 1588 trial described contact with the Queen of Elfame, while Bessie Dunlop’s testimony connected the Court of Elfame with fairies or “good neighbours.”

The queen also resembles the supernatural ruler encountered by Thomas the Rhymer and figures in traditions surrounding Tam Lin. However, the identity is not always presented consistently across ballads and scholarship. Nicneven and the Gyre-Carlin were sometimes equated with the fairy queen by later writers, but older traditions generally treat them as separate witch-like or supernatural figures.

The spelling “Elphame” became especially popular through later literary usage, including Robert Graves’s twentieth-century adaptations. The underlying folkloric title is older than that spelling.