In the first half of the twentieth century, two writers challenged the view that witchcraft had n... more In the first half of the twentieth century, two writers challenged the view that witchcraft had never been a ‘real’ cult. Margaret Murray (1863–1963), an Egyptologist and member of the Folklore Society, applied James Frazer’s ideas on the universality of fertility cults at the primitive stage of cultural development to re-create an ancient religion. She put forward the idea that what Christianity demonised as witchcraft was a medieval survival of an ancient Palaeolithic/Neolithic religion based on the agricultural cycle. In contrast, Montague Summers (1880–1948), a convert to Catholicism, claimed that genuine satanic cults had existed in previous centuries, and that witches did indeed practise satanic rites. At the time there was widespread interest in occultism, and the modern disciplines of anthropology and psychology were emerging. The very different conclusions reached by Murray and Summers shared the assumption that the language of accusation could be matched to a real phenomenon, rooted in the past, but still affecting the present. Researchers have again become interested in witches’ assemblies, although there are still widely expressed reservations about the way Murray and Summers fused popular motifs and historical material to produce their respective benign or satanic cults. Despite this, both writers have been influential in the development of modern popular religion and lifestyle movements.
Fairies, unruly women, and vestigial Catholicism constituted a frequently invoked triad in late s... more Fairies, unruly women, and vestigial Catholicism constituted a frequently invoked triad in late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century drama which has seldom been critically examined and therefore constitutes a significant lacuna in scholarly treatments of early modern theater, including the work of Shakespeare. Fairy tradition has lost out in scholarly critical convention to the more masculine mythologies of Christianity and classical Greece and Rome, in which female deities either serve masculine gods or are themselves masculinized (i.e., Diana as a buckskinned warrior). However, the fairy tradition is every bit as significant in our critical attempts to situate early modern texts in their historical contexts as the references to classical texts and struggles associated with state-mandated religious beliefs are widely agreed to be. "Fairies, Fractious Women, and the Old Faith" examines the ways in which the fairy, rebellious woman, quasi-Catholic trio repeatedly stages resistance to early modern conceptions of appropriate class and gender conduct and state-mandated religion in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "The Merry Wives of Windsor", "Cymbeline", "All's Well That Ends Well", and Ben Jonson's "The Alchemist".
... He published the Archaeological Review during its brief history and the new journal Folk-Lore... more ... He published the Archaeological Review during its brief history and the new journal Folk-Lore which superseded it. The first dozen or so volumes of the Irish Text Society were published by him, as was the series Popular Studies in Mythology Romance and Folklore which was ...
No one who witnessed the scenes that followed the death of Diana Princess of Wales could doubt ei... more No one who witnessed the scenes that followed the death of Diana Princess of Wales could doubt either the intensity of the emotion or the crucial role of the mass media with its blanket coverage and global broadcasting. In the months since her death, commentators have begun to ...
... as in a dream I seemed to climb For ever: at the last I reached a door ... It gave, and throe... more ... as in a dream I seemed to climb For ever: at the last I reached a door ... It gave, and throe' a stormy glare, a heat As from a seventimes-heated furnace ... And yet methought I saw the Holy Grail All palled in crimson samite ... (Idylls of the King, 2:829-44).
ON a recent visit to a Cardiff bookshop specialising in Welsh publications, the writer of the pre... more ON a recent visit to a Cardiff bookshop specialising in Welsh publications, the writer of the present article counted eleven different published versions of the story of the fairy from Llyn Y Fan Fach. The tale, which first appeared in print in the nineteenth century, tells the story of a ...
AT the beginning of the sixteenth century a work appeared describing the marvellous feats of Virg... more AT the beginning of the sixteenth century a work appeared describing the marvellous feats of Virgil, which he performed, according to one translation, 'by witchcraft and negromancye thorwgh the helpe of the devils of hell.'1 Welsh manuscripts of Hanes Taliesin written towards the ...
This article presents a survey of the work of Jessie Weston and examines her role in the developm... more This article presents a survey of the work of Jessie Weston and examines her role in the development of Arthurian studies in the first half of the twentieth century. In her considerable output of articles, editions, and retellings of Arthurian romance tales, Weston attempted to establish links between major themes in medieval Arthurian romances and the ancient traditions of the Celts. These speculations reached their height in her most famous and most controversial book, From Ritual to Romance, where she suggested that the origins of the medieval Grail story could be traced back to an initiation ritual in an ancient mystery cult that survived into the medieval period. Although From Ritual to Romance has influenced modernist literature and culture, current Arthurian scholarship has largely rejected Weston’s theories about the relationship between Celtic civilization and romance. However, the popularity surrounding this controversial work, especially outside mainstream scholarship, ha...
In the first half of the twentieth century, two writers challenged the view that witchcraft had n... more In the first half of the twentieth century, two writers challenged the view that witchcraft had never been a ‘real’ cult. Margaret Murray (1863–1963), an Egyptologist and member of the Folklore Society, applied James Frazer’s ideas on the universality of fertility cults at the primitive stage of cultural development to re-create an ancient religion. She put forward the idea that what Christianity demonised as witchcraft was a medieval survival of an ancient Palaeolithic/Neolithic religion based on the agricultural cycle. In contrast, Montague Summers (1880–1948), a convert to Catholicism, claimed that genuine satanic cults had existed in previous centuries, and that witches did indeed practise satanic rites. At the time there was widespread interest in occultism, and the modern disciplines of anthropology and psychology were emerging. The very different conclusions reached by Murray and Summers shared the assumption that the language of accusation could be matched to a real phenomenon, rooted in the past, but still affecting the present. Researchers have again become interested in witches’ assemblies, although there are still widely expressed reservations about the way Murray and Summers fused popular motifs and historical material to produce their respective benign or satanic cults. Despite this, both writers have been influential in the development of modern popular religion and lifestyle movements.
Fairies, unruly women, and vestigial Catholicism constituted a frequently invoked triad in late s... more Fairies, unruly women, and vestigial Catholicism constituted a frequently invoked triad in late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century drama which has seldom been critically examined and therefore constitutes a significant lacuna in scholarly treatments of early modern theater, including the work of Shakespeare. Fairy tradition has lost out in scholarly critical convention to the more masculine mythologies of Christianity and classical Greece and Rome, in which female deities either serve masculine gods or are themselves masculinized (i.e., Diana as a buckskinned warrior). However, the fairy tradition is every bit as significant in our critical attempts to situate early modern texts in their historical contexts as the references to classical texts and struggles associated with state-mandated religious beliefs are widely agreed to be. "Fairies, Fractious Women, and the Old Faith" examines the ways in which the fairy, rebellious woman, quasi-Catholic trio repeatedly stages resistance to early modern conceptions of appropriate class and gender conduct and state-mandated religion in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "The Merry Wives of Windsor", "Cymbeline", "All's Well That Ends Well", and Ben Jonson's "The Alchemist".
... He published the Archaeological Review during its brief history and the new journal Folk-Lore... more ... He published the Archaeological Review during its brief history and the new journal Folk-Lore which superseded it. The first dozen or so volumes of the Irish Text Society were published by him, as was the series Popular Studies in Mythology Romance and Folklore which was ...
No one who witnessed the scenes that followed the death of Diana Princess of Wales could doubt ei... more No one who witnessed the scenes that followed the death of Diana Princess of Wales could doubt either the intensity of the emotion or the crucial role of the mass media with its blanket coverage and global broadcasting. In the months since her death, commentators have begun to ...
... as in a dream I seemed to climb For ever: at the last I reached a door ... It gave, and throe... more ... as in a dream I seemed to climb For ever: at the last I reached a door ... It gave, and throe' a stormy glare, a heat As from a seventimes-heated furnace ... And yet methought I saw the Holy Grail All palled in crimson samite ... (Idylls of the King, 2:829-44).
ON a recent visit to a Cardiff bookshop specialising in Welsh publications, the writer of the pre... more ON a recent visit to a Cardiff bookshop specialising in Welsh publications, the writer of the present article counted eleven different published versions of the story of the fairy from Llyn Y Fan Fach. The tale, which first appeared in print in the nineteenth century, tells the story of a ...
AT the beginning of the sixteenth century a work appeared describing the marvellous feats of Virg... more AT the beginning of the sixteenth century a work appeared describing the marvellous feats of Virgil, which he performed, according to one translation, 'by witchcraft and negromancye thorwgh the helpe of the devils of hell.'1 Welsh manuscripts of Hanes Taliesin written towards the ...
This article presents a survey of the work of Jessie Weston and examines her role in the developm... more This article presents a survey of the work of Jessie Weston and examines her role in the development of Arthurian studies in the first half of the twentieth century. In her considerable output of articles, editions, and retellings of Arthurian romance tales, Weston attempted to establish links between major themes in medieval Arthurian romances and the ancient traditions of the Celts. These speculations reached their height in her most famous and most controversial book, From Ritual to Romance, where she suggested that the origins of the medieval Grail story could be traced back to an initiation ritual in an ancient mystery cult that survived into the medieval period. Although From Ritual to Romance has influenced modernist literature and culture, current Arthurian scholarship has largely rejected Weston’s theories about the relationship between Celtic civilization and romance. However, the popularity surrounding this controversial work, especially outside mainstream scholarship, ha...
This lecture traces the development of the scarecrow from its agricultural role into a figure pop... more This lecture traces the development of the scarecrow from its agricultural role into a figure popular in children's literature, gothic fiction and the horror film. It also examines the changing role of this ephemeral figure as the 'robot' in science fiction and film and the increasing use of the scarecrow as a symbol in community and seasonal celebrations.
This lecture-text considers the response of Welsh writers to the Arthurian legend during and afte... more This lecture-text considers the response of Welsh writers to the Arthurian legend during and after the Great War.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the legendary wizard Merlin. He was sired by an incubus and born ... more Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the legendary wizard Merlin. He was sired by an incubus and born of a virgin; he was a prophet, a shape-shifter, a king-maker and a mad man of the woods. Before Gandalf there was Merlin: the power behind Arthur and a literary sensation for centuries. In a literary career spanning 1500 years, Merlin, or originally Myrddin, put the sword in the stone, built Stonehenge, knew the truth behind the Holy Grail and discovered the Elixir of Life. "Beware Merlin for he knows all things by the devil's craft" say the poisoners in Malory's Morte D'Arthur; but he is also on the side of the good and is almost Christ-like in some of the versions of his tale, and his prophesies were pored over by the medieval Church. Who was Merlinus Ambrosius, as he is sometimes known? Where does his legend spring from and how has it been appropriated and adapted over time?With Juliette Wood, Associate Lecturer in the Department of Welsh at Cardiff University, Stephen Knight, Distinguished Research Professor in English Literature at Cardiff University, Peter Forshaw, Lecturer in Renaissance Philosophies at Birkbeck, University of London.
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