British Myths And Legends Vol 1: Marvels And Magic, Edited by Richard Barber

Photo of book set by author, Stuart Aken

Book Review

This is the first volume of a trilogy published by the Folio Society, though the entire book is also available as a single volume. I used to belong to the Folio Society some years ago, and this was one of their offers at the time. It is essentially, a condensation of the works of many early ‘historians’ and storytellers who wanted to record life and events, myths and legends, as these occurred in a Britain without written language at the time. But, as Barber says, in the Introduction at the start of this volume, ‘These are tales of gods and heroes and marvel, the antithesis of sober history…’

That is followed by a Prologue: The Island at the Edge of the World. Here we are given a short passage written by Procopius, a historian of the Byzantine empire, and an even shorter piece explaining how the Roman historian, Plutarch, came upon some of the stories contained herein.

The book is then spilt into three parts, each with a number of different myths and legends. ‘The Origins’ holds mythical explanations relating to the early inhabitants of Britain’s many islands. ‘The Early History Of Britain’ contains myths and stories about Brutus, King Lear, Lludd and Llefelys, Maxen Wledig, Hengist and Horsa, and Hamlet. ‘Marvels And Magic’ presents tales on the Marvels of Britain, Culhwch and Olwen, Merlin, Taliesin, and ends with the Wild Hunt.

It’s a scholarly work, introducing many characters of whom I knew nothing and others I’d come across in various other works during a life where I calculate I’ve read at least 10,000 books. For me, the most surprising element of the many tales is the almost complete lack of credibility concerning the heroes, villains, and monsters portrayed. These are fairy tales in a very real sense of the implications of such stories. It would take a profound ignorance of history, possible physical performance, and simple geographical and topographical structure for anyone to believe any of these tales.

They depict a world dominated by men of extreme violence, selfishness, prejudice, superstition, and the early casual misogyny of the emerging Christian faith. There are, in some of the stories, lengthy lists of participants provided for no apparent reason. Many of the stories introduce new characters with no reference points to enable the reader to understand who these people actually are or, more accurately, were. There are, however, names with which many readers will be familiar from history lessons, Shakespeare plays, and more recent re-telling of these ancient stories. But there are many individuals for whom no context exists, no explanation of their place in the world described.

The book is a hard, demanding read that I found produced no real reward and that had the effect of hardening my skeptical stance relating to religion and to previously encountered myths and legends of daring and so-called adventure.

This is volume one of a trilogy. I won’t be reading volume two, ‘Heroes And Saints’ or volume three, ‘History And Romance’ as life is too short for such unrewarding endeavour, and there are many other books I’d rather explore. Also, I’m busy writing another novel of my own, which absorbs much of my limited free time.