Clara Reeve 
The Old English Baron (Annotated) 

• This edition includes the following editor’s introduction: Clara Reeve and the beginnings of the gothic novel

‘The Old English Baron’ is a Gothic novel by English writer Clara Reeve, published anonymously in 1777 under the title ‘The Champion of Virtue; a Gothic Story.’

‘The Old English Baron’ is one of the most influential Gothic novels of its time. Bibliographically it ranks as a rival to Horace Walpole’s ‘The Castle of Otranto.’ In fact, for much of the 19th century the two novels were published together.



The novel follows the adventures of Sir Philip Harclay, who returns to medieval England and discovers that the castle of his comrade, Lord Lovel, has been usurped. This operation uncovers a complex web of betrayal and nefarious alliances, leading to hand-to-hand combat worthy of any Walter Scott novel.



‘The Old English Baron’ was brought to the stage in 1799.