The first hint of Rokeby is found in a letter of 11 January 1811 from Scott to Lady Abercorn in which he says that although he is not currently engaged on a new poem he has 'sometimes thought of laying the scene during the great civil war in 1643'.

[9] Thereafter composition proceeded briskly, though at one stage Scott contemplated reducing the length to five cantos to enable publication for the Christmas market.

Oswald instructs his son Wilfrid, a soft lad in love with Matilda Rokeby, to accompany Bertram to Mortham Castle to secure the treasure.

Oswald arrives, accompanied by Rokeby's page Redmond O'Neale, who says he witnessed the murder at Marston and initiates a vain search for Bertram who has fled the scene.

Oswald tells his son that Rokeby has been taken prisoner in the battle and consigned to his charge, and that though Redmond is Wilfrid's rival for Matilda's affection she may be induced to accept him to secure her father's release.

He encounters Guy Denzil and agrees to head a band of outlaws, including a young minstrel Edmund of Winston, quartered in a cave.

Denzil tells Bertram that the treasure is in fact at Rokeby, whither Philip had moved it intending that his niece Matilda should inherit it in the event of his death in battle.

Canto 4: Matilda takes the air with the civilised rivals for her affections Wilfrid and Redmond: the latter had been her childhood companion after he was consigned to Rokeby's keeping because of his grandfather's destitution and physical deterioration in Ireland.

He is interrupted by Bertram and tells him how Denzil and he, taken captive after the conflagration, had agreed with Oswald to save their lives by making a statement that Rokeby had enlisted their aid to storm Barnard Castle.

Oswald has Denzil executed and prepares to put pressure on Matilda to marry Wilfrid by readying the ruined church of Egliston for the beheading of her father and Redmond.

[16] In particular the newly developed character interest was generally welcomed, and there was praise for the vigorous and well-conducted story and for the work's moral beauty.

J. G. Lockhart reported that bookshops in Oxford were besieged by customers wanting to read the poem, and bets were placed as to whether Rokeby would outsell Byron's recent Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.

[19] Lockhart, writing after Scott's death, admired the scenery of Rokeby, and found many thrilling episodes and lines scattered through the poem; he attributed its disappointing sales to the inevitable comparisons drawn by the public with Childe Harold’s greater raciness and romantic glamour.

[21] Andrew Lang also admired the songs, but considered the poem as a whole inferior to its predecessors, and, in common with other critics, thought the story better suited for a novel.

Another adaptation by George John Bennett, a five-act play called Retribution, or Love's Trials, was produced at Sadler's Wells in 1850.