The Betrothed

The Betrothed (1825) is one of the Waverley novels by Sir Walter Scott. Set in the Welsh Marches in the 12th century it is the first of two Tales of the Crusaders, the second being The Talisman.


Parts of the novel were incorporated into Francesco Maria Piave's libretto for Giuseppe Verdi's 1857 opera, Aroldo, itself a re-working of an earlier Verdi opera, Stiffelio.


At the beginning of April 1824, two months before he completed Redgauntlet, Scott envisaged that it would be followed by a four-volume publication containing two tales, at least one of which would be based on the Crusades. He began composition of the first story, The Betrothed, in June, but progress was to be excruciatingly slow. Initially the problem was numerous interruptions with visitors to Abbotsford. By mid-August proofs had only passed the middle of the first volume and in September Scott was able to write only sporadically, so that the first volume was not complete until early October. Then there were objections to the novel from James Ballantyne, and it is likely that at some point in the autumn Scott changed course and began the companion novel The Talisman. On 17 December it was actually decided that The Betrothed should be formally laid aside, though the second volume was well advanced, and the sheets already printed were sealed up. In mid-February 1825 the December decision was rescinded and composition was complete by mid-March, though Scott returned to the work to adjust the conclusion at the beginning of June.


Like all of Scott's novels The Betrothed is full of literary echoes, particularly from medieval romances. For the prominent Welsh element he made considerable use of two sources, one dating from the twelfth century, the other a product of his own time: the translation by Sir Richard Colt Hoare from the original Latin of The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales by Giraldus Cambrensis (1806), and The Cambrian Biography by William Owen (1803). (wikipedia.org)