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The Age of Arthur: A History of the British Isles
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The Age of Arthur: A History of the British Isles from 350 to 650 (Phoenix)

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The historical Arthur...
handle with extreme care
Excellent and scholarly synthesis.....
Into the Dark Ages
Glorious Conjecture

The Age of Arthur: A History of the British Isles from 350 to 650 (Phoenix)
John Morris
Manufacturer: Phoenix Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Arthur's Britain (Classic History)
An Age of Tyrants: Britain and the Britons, A.D. 400-600
Roman Britain and Early England 55 B. C. to A. D. 871 (Norton Library History of England)
Anglo-Saxon England: Reissue with a new cover (Oxford History of England)
Pendragon: The Definitive Account of the Origins of Arthur

ASIN: 1842124773

Book Description

It's a past hitherto hidden in myth and mystery, and one so exciting to lovers of literature and history. Yet Arthur himself, both the last Roman emperor and the first medieval king, represented a form of continuity...and pointed the way to future English history. "...Morris has created more than the most devoted of Arthurian enthusiasts could ever have hoped for...in a style of great elegance..."--Times Literary Supplement.

Customer Reviews:

The historical Arthur..........2004-04-08

John Morris's The Age of Arthur is an excellent reference guide for anyone interested in the historical Arthur, or the Dark Ages in general. It's as old as I am and I found it in a used book shop. At more than six-hundred pages, it is incredibly detailed and a bit hard to read cover-to-cover, but you can get the gist of it with some judicious skipping.

Some historians may have trouble with the conclusions that Morris draws. He relies heavily on folklore as his source. His thinking is, if there's smoke there's fire - if all these chroniclers write about a King Arthur who lived during the time of their fathers, then there's probably some truth to it.

As far as I can tell, the majority of historians (including Simon Schama) believe that there was a warlord named Arthur - he was the last Brit to fight off the Saxon hoards. The details of his life and the character of the man are unknowable. Morris would agree with that - he doesn't give us details of Arthur's life. There are snippets provided from historical writings - some of which portray Arthur as a tyrant. There is a Vortigern in this book, but no Merlin. Who knows how true Morris's assertions are, but in all fairness, like Herodotus, he does provide his source materials so you can make up your own mind.

handle with extreme care.......2003-05-02

The trouble with writers who can write good English is that they can present bad arguments attractively. Let's face it: John Morris was a crank, a very learned, impressive crank, but a crank. My copy of his work is dotted with pencil notes that question his sanity; and while that was the immediate, unmediated response to the impact of a first reading, a subsequent and more placid view does not really mitigate the effect of some of his enormities.
His worst feature was a complete inability to tell the difference between legend and historical fact - understandable, perhaps, in a novice, but incomprehensible in a man who had spent all his life in scholarship. It is typical of his methods (to dignify them by that name) that he should take seriously the Kentish legend of Hengist and Horsa (as related by Nennius), in spite not only of its obviously legendary features but of the fact that it plainly contradicts everything that our best properly historical source, Gildas, has to tell about the first Saxon war. Gildas tells us that the war was a blitzkrieg caused by the sudden fury of starved barbarians; the legend makes it a long-prepared plan. Gildas tells us that it reached as far as the West Country; the legend restricts it to Kent. Gildas tells us that it was bloody but swift; the legend makes it last ten years. How does Morris get over these hurdles? Why, by a simple and airy remark: "accounts of the war north of the Thames have not survived". He should have said not only north of the Thames but west of the Medway; but let that pass, since at any rate it shows the level of his critical intellect. This sort of thing is highly damaging, not only because it legitimated the destructive scepticism of the currently prevalent Cambridge school of David Dumville and his followers, but because it has a lethal fascination for the unprepared reader, impressed (as some of the earlier reviews show) by the show of learning, and by the cohesive picture offered. The learning is not fake (although on a few occasions, especially when dealing with Rigothamus and Brittany, Morris leaves the impression of having invented sources, or at least read them very "creatively"); but learning is not enough, and a poorly grounded overall picture is worse than none at all. I have written myself about this period of British history, and am continuously surprised at Morris' blindness to obvious fact when inconvenient for his theories.
This book escapes getting only one star for two reasons: first, its genuinely excellent prose style; and second, that in the middle of the scholarly ordure there are a good few diamonds. From time to time, Morris comes up with genuinely brilliant ideas and insights (such as his argument for the existence of an individual insular idea of Empire, or his defence of the currently unpopular early dating of St.Patrick). But these are too widely scattered among a fluent tide of nonsense to be a reason to recommend the book. Though addressed to lay readers, this book is dangerous for them; it should be restricted to those who, having as much learning as Morris himself, are able to judge and condemn his arguments.

Excellent and scholarly synthesis............2003-03-14

If John Morris never wrote another book, his AGE OF ARTHUR would have to be described as a lifetime achievement. I bought this book because I've been fascinated with King Arthur for some time, and this book is THE history of the period before, during and after Arthur. Only about one-fifth of the pages in the book are about Arthur's life, but Morris convincingly describes Arthur's time and his lasting effect on the cultures and governments of the British Islands. He also makes a convincing case that history is not predestined.

THE AGE OF ARTHUR covers a period that has been condescendingly labeled the "dark ages" by some. Morris suggests this age is not so much obscure as it has been overlooked. (Or was at the time he published his book. Many new "early Medieval studies" were published in the 1990s). Morris demonstrates that scholarship about this era can be carried out by using annals; lives of the saints; law codes; land grants and religious charters; "histories" such as those written by Gildas and Bede; graffiti and tomb inscriptions; poetry; chronicles; wills; genealogical records; archeological evidence from cemeteries, burial mounds, and barrows, houses, villages, encampments, battle fields and other sites; and linguistics analysis. He has done a magnificent job of identifying and synthesizing much of the extant material. His book is loaded with suggestions for scholars who want to continue investigating this era. I doubt you will find a better book for an overview of this period or for research leads.

Among other topics, I was intrigued with the various ways the Welsh (Angle for foreigner), Irish, Scots (Latin for Irish), and German peoples including the Angles of Arthur's age dealt with everyday issues. Their social and legal problems were not so very different, but the Irish and the Welsh (Roman Britains) appear to have been somewhat more practical and humane. They were much more concerned with compensation than revenge or punishment and more than once Morris refers to them as early humanists. For example, an (adulterous wife) was expected to compensate her offended husband by paying him "face money." Some of the old laws from this age are still "on the books." For example, the notion that seven years cohabitation by persons of opposite sex creates a "common-law marriage" is at least 1500 years old and is the law in places such as the Commonwealth of Virginia which follows English Common Law.

Into the Dark Ages.......2003-02-05

Morris's "Age of Arthur" is a scholarly work on Dark Age Britain, and the tribes it comprised. As anyone reading the history of the first millenium will realize, the quality and extent of reliable sources on European history drops off in a major way, following the collapse of the Roman Empire, and much of Morris's story relies on archeological evidence and pieced-together fragments of local annals. For this reason, this is not a terrific work of narrative history, but on the other hand, it is a solid survey of what went on in pre-Norman, post Roman Britain.

The title of the book refers to the Arthur myth, to which some (but not all) of the book is devoted. Morris's thesis is that the Arthur legends are traceable to a real-life British king, who brought the disparate British (i.e. non-English, non-Saxon) tribes in a coherent political unit, and whose reign was much venerated in the following centuries, when the British peoples became fragmented and vulnerable to invasion. In his treatment of the British and other tribes (e.g. the Scots and Picts) Morris is slightly susceptible to the tendency to find proto-nationalistic traits, when perhaps there were none. Still, a useful and coherent reference point for Dark Age Britain.

Glorious Conjecture.......2002-12-04

I, for one, am happy to see this work back in print. As others have noted, Morris weaves a grand tapestry from a few threads; but what a tapestry! He guesses, he extrapolates, he leaps, over evidentiary chasms at which more cautious historians blanche, to conclusions. Bully for him. Read it together with more cautious historians such as Salway and Wachter, and have fun.

The Isle of Avalon Sacred Mysteries of Arthur and Glastonbury

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Informative and Interesting
Excellent historical and mythological reference!
Virtual Glastonbury!
A Worthwhile Read

The Isle of Avalon Sacred Mysteries of Arthur and Glastonbury
Nicholas R. Mann
Manufacturer: Green Magic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Avalon Within: Inner Sovereignty and Personal Transformation Through the Avalonian Mysteries
Glastonbury
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ASIN: 0953663132

Book Description

Avalon is a site of great power, revered since ancient times as an entrance to, and exit from, the Otherworld. Book provides a coherent context in which to understand Avalon's many mysteries, including the * Isle * Tor * Glastonbury Zodiac, * Abbey * Tor Labyrinth * St. Michael ley line The author invokes the magical, spiritual power of the English landscape with a wealth of detailed information encompassing other belief systems and scared sites. He discusses * Physical and sacred topography * Symbols * Architecture * History

Customer Reviews:

Informative and Interesting.......2007-01-13

I have not yet finished this book, as it does take awhile to read. It is very informative and has a lot of intersting facts about this Avalon and Glastonbury; however, it can be difficult to read.

Excellent historical and mythological reference!.......2003-09-29

Nicholas Mann captures the spirit of Avalon through the combined lenses of history, archeology, mythology and comparative spirituality rarely found in comparable texts. A must-own for anyone interested in Glastonbury, the Arthurian Mythos, spiritual history in sacred Britain, sacred geomety and geomancy. Mann brings a critical yet intuitively insightful perspective to all of the above. Well worth reading more than once!!

Virtual Glastonbury!.......2000-07-07

I've just come back from Glastonbury, and having read this book first helped a great deal. I'm reading it again, and am feeling so enlightened. If you love Avalon, you must have this book.

A Worthwhile Read.......1998-06-28

Anyone interested in the background behind the mysts of Avalon will enjoy this book. I found it well-researched, fairly easy to read, and quite informative. A great collection to my library.

King Arthur's Place in Prehistory: The Great Age of Stonehenge (Illustrated History Paperbacks)

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new light on a hidden age

King Arthur's Place in Prehistory: The Great Age of Stonehenge (Illustrated History Paperbacks)
W. A. Cummins
Manufacturer: Alan Sutton Publishing, Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

A respected geologist and archaeologist connects the real historical European stone circle sites, including Stonehenge.

Customer Reviews:

new light on a hidden age.......2000-10-25

This is a really fascinating book.

King Arthur is a good name to drop, but this is far from just another of those `what happened in Dark Age Britain' books.

Dr Cummins looks at the build-up of legend around the character of King Arthur in various versions of the tale, and notices several distinct characters emerging. Many books have noted these different elements referring to a warlord's resistance to the Saxon invasion of Britain (in the late 5th century), and to `Arthurs' invasion of France (thought to refer to Magnus Maxentius aka Guy of Warwick in the early 4th century). Adrian Gilbert calls them Arthur 1 and Arthur 2 in `The Holy Kingdom'.

Cummins then investigates the third element which sits uneasily with these two - the Arthur who presides over a golden age of peace & prosperity, and is buried at Stonehenge. He points out how vague history can be in a non-literate society: people remember that some king was specially great, they remember names and spectacular achievements, but without books and calendars people have no way of remembering dates or even eras. Very often locations become just names unless there is some special monument which can be identified (ancient kingdoms were so often named after kings and tribes who came and went, soon forgotten, with fluid borders)

Could this third element of `the great king' reveal an even more ancient memory of a prehistoric golden age? Dr Cummins allows himself speculation beyond the hard facts of archaeology, but does not resort to silly fantasies. There was clearly a rich and sophisticated society in southern England more than three thousand years ago - the only traces of which is are the burial mounds and stone monuments - Stonehenge, Avebury, etc.

Cummins points out the sophistication of prehistoric (ie. pre-Roman) societies, the details of which have been lost because their material culture was almost entirely perishable (over the three thousand years which separate us from them). They wrote nothing about themselves, and the literate Romans wrote nothing good about what was left of the ancient societies taken into their empire. Only the Greeks were writing early enough to record anything of ancient Western Europe, and Cummins traces tenuous links between ancient Greeks and Britain.

He does not suggest that Stonehenge was an alien imposition by Greeks on a savage society. Indeed, his portrait of ancient Wessex suggests that the reason that such monuments seem impossible for their time is because we underestimate ancient societies so badly. The lack of iron does not condemn a people to a brutish `caveman' existence: societies can be rich in culture, lifestyle and organization without leaving visible traces of these. We should be thinking of the glories of Solomon, not of the Flintstones.

From the monuments left to us, from place-names, references in later texts and from the mysterious, timeless tales of Arthur, Cummins traces out a possible character of a great king of the second millennium BC, Ambrius (in all his glory), whose kingdom was wealthy enough to build Stonehenge (or rather reconstruct it) whose architect was perhaps a prototype Merlin.

King of the Celts: Arthurian Legends and Celtic Tradition

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Arthurian lore
Extensive and fulfilling! A Great Arthurian Classic!
Interesting discussion of history and myth

King of the Celts: Arthurian Legends and Celtic Tradition
Jean Markale
Manufacturer: Inner Traditions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The World of King Arthur

ASIN: 0892814527
Release Date: 1993-11-01

Book Description

In a masterful blend of history, geography, and literature, Jean Markale re-creates the true King Arthur, the real-life Celtic warrior-hero who organized the resistance to the Saxon onslaught in fifth-century England. Markale's unsurpassed knowledge of Celtic history has enabled him to reconstruct for us the actual world in which King Arthur lived--its heros, its values, and its vicissitudes--and to define the position that Arthur occupied within it.

• Explains how the Arthurian ideals of knightly virtue and chivalry are at the heart of Western literature and thought

• Shows how the Celtic heritage continues to exert a unique formative power on our personal and moral concepts

Customer Reviews:

Arthurian lore.......2007-04-08

I have three books by Markale (The Celts, Women of the Celts, and this one), and this is the only one that impressed me in the least. Despite its stupid title, this book is full of valuable information, historical, political, and mythical. Arthurian lore and speculations about the historical Arthur are not one of my favorite things of this sort, but for someone looking for a professional study of it, this is your book.

Extensive and fulfilling! A Great Arthurian Classic!.......2000-10-23

No other book covers the legend of King Arthur better than this!! From the political aspects to the mythical, this book is great for any who find King Arthur of interest. It undermines the myth and trys to dig at the truth, and on the way you will find that many of the stories about Arthur were for political gain during the time they were written. This books goes VERY DEEP, and if you get discouraged by heavy books do not get this! But if you are inpired to search the endless wonders of King Arthur, then get this book and enjoy!

Interesting discussion of history and myth.......2000-03-09

A refreshing take on Arthurian legend, literature, history, mythology and their intersection. Markale offers theories on how different societies constructed their history and mythology (for any historiographers in the crowd) as well as a synthesis of different versions of Arthurian legend. The French courtly romances of the 12th and 13th century are not excluded, but Markale places more emphasis on the earlier sources (both extant and interpolated) for the Celtic tales. A compelling portrait of Arthur and the Celts emerges.

Roman Britain and the Empire of Arthur (Age of Arthur a History of the British Isles from 350 to 650)

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Roman Britain and the Empire of Arthur (Age of Arthur a History of the British Isles from 350 to 650)

Manufacturer: Phillimore & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0850332893

Book Description

The Age of Arthur Volume 1: Roman Britain and the Empire of Arthur

Average customer rating:

Interesting read

The Medieval Quest for Arthur
Cory James Rushton , and Robert Rouse
Manufacturer: Tempus Publishing, Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0752433431

Customer Reviews:

Interesting read.......2006-02-05

This book surprised me, leading me on a journey through the medieval mind and strangeness of the Arthurian legends. Who would have thought that they would have believed so strongly that King Arthur really existed. The book looks at a number of fascinating examples of medieval fraud, from the creation of the Round Table in Winchester by Edward I (Longshanks, from the film Braveheart), to the faking of the finding of his body by the greedy monks of Glastonbury abbey.

An excellent read, and good value for money - a great introduction to the subject.

Making the Past Present: David Jones, the Middle Ages, And Modernism

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Making the Past Present: David Jones, the Middle Ages, And Modernism
Paul Robichaud
Manufacturer: Catholic University of America Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Book Description

The importance of David Jones (1895-1974) as a major modern poet has been increasingly recognized during the past few decades through a growing critical appreciation of In Parenthesis (1937), The AnathÃ©mata (1952), and The Sleeping Lord (1974). Praised by poets as diverse as T.S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, Hugh MacDiarmid, Seamus Heaney, and W.S. Merwin, Jones is a writer whose work challenges established critical boundaries between periods, styles, and genres. In Making the Past Present, Paul Robichaud offers an innovative exploration of Jones's poetry that aims to help readers overcome challenges to a fuller appreciation of his work.

A persistent challenge for readers has been Jones's turn to the Middle Ages for inspiration and example. Although Jones's medievalism has hindered his acceptance into the academic modernist canon, the Middle Ages are central to his modernism as a continually questioned and constructed source of cultural values. Making the Past Present explores the significance of Jones's medievalism in its modernist contexts, while providing readers with detailed information on central, but often unfamiliar, allusions.

Robichaud charts the growth of Jones's medievalism from his earliest Pre-Raphaelite influences, showing how his commitment to modernist aesthetics transformed his vision of the Middle Ages. In considering his obsession with medieval Wales, this study shows how Jones engaged with contemporary Welsh and Arthurian scholarship to construct a vision of Wales that is both a modernist symbol of cultural wholeness and an "imagined community" in tandem with the development of Welsh cultural nationalism. Robichaud argues that the tension between vernacular and Latin cultures in Jones's poetry reflects his concern over the modern relationship between national and European cultural interests, an intellectual context shared with T.S. Eliot and the historian Christopher Dawson. The impact of medieval on modernist aesthetics receives a sustained analysis in a reading of Jones in relation to James Joyce, Jacques Maritain, and Wilhelm WÃ¶rringer.

Church, Society and Economy (Age of Arthur a History of the British Isles from 350 to 650)

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Church, Society and Economy (Age of Arthur a History of the British Isles from 350 to 650)

Manufacturer: Phillimore & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0850332915

Brilliant BritsGuy Fawkes (Brilliant Brits Series)

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Brilliant BritsGuy Fawkes (Brilliant Brits Series)
Richard Brassey
Manufacturer: Orion Children's Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1842552317

Age of Arthur, The: A History of the British Isles from 350 to 650

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Age of Arthur, The: A History of the British Isles from 350 to 650
John Morris
Manufacturer: Barnes & Noble
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000F9K89O

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