‘Elves and Fairies’ by Matthias Egeler review
In Elves and Fairies: A Short History of the Otherworld, Matthias Egeler follows the huldufólk from the wild places of Iceland, Britain, and Ireland to the domesticity of the bedtime story.
Francis Young
‘The Medieval Moon’ by Ayoush Lazikani review
More than science waiting to be understood, The Medieval Moon: A History of Haunting and Blessing by Ayoush Lazikani illuminates the enchanted orb of poets.
Gods at the Margins: How European Paganism Survived
By the 14th century Christianity had swept many of Europe’s indigenous religions aside, but not all. At the continent’s peripheries paganism survived and, in some cases, thrived.
‘The Brothers Grimm: A Biography’ by Ann Schmiesing review
The Brothers Grimm: A Biography by Ann Schmiesing brings folklore’s most famous double act out of the shadowy realm of legend.
‘Cunning Folk’ by Tabitha Stanmore review
Cunning Folk: Life in the Era of Practical Magic by Tabitha Stanmore gives a human face to magic in medieval and early modern England.
‘Magus’ by Anthony Grafton review
Rather than proto-science, argues Anthony Grafton in Magus: The Art of Magic from Faustus to Agrippa, Renaissance occultism was the science of wonder.
The Catholic Conundrum
Despite persecution, Catholics survived in Protestant England. For the authorities, they were a problem with a silver lining.
Making Medieval Ireland English
An audacious plan to install an English saint as the patron saint of Ireland.
St Edmund the Viking Saint
The cult of the quintessentially English saint was the product of the Vikings who defeated him.