<i>Colkelbie Sow</i> and Northern Europe

Abstract This anonymous, late-medieval Scottish poem has presented editors and critics with many challenges. One such concerns a list of placenames pertaining to northern Germany and the Baltic. Corruption in the (unique) manuscript source is likely, and detailed arguments are proposed for emendations to the text. It is suggested that the anonymous poet’s evident interest in the north-German/Scandinavian area may owe something to the marriage (1469) of Margaret of Oldenburg to King James III.