Legends, Tradition and History in Medieval England


Book Description

In this collection of essays, Antonia Gransden brings out the virtues of medieval writers and highlights their attitudes and habits of thought. She traces the continuing influence of Bede, the greatest of early medieval English historians, from his death to the 16th century. Bede's clarity and authority were welcomed by generations of monastic historians. At the other end is a humble 14th-century chronicle produced at Lynn with little to add other than a few local references.




London Lore


Book Description

In which part of North London were wild beasts once thought to roam the sewers? Why did 1920s working-class Londoners wear necklaces of blue beads? Who was the original inspiration for the 'pearly king' costume? And did Spring-heeled Jack, scourge of Victorian London, ever really exist? Exploring everything from local superstitions and ghost stories to annual customs, this is an enchanting guide to the ancient legends and deep-rooted beliefs that can be found the length and breadth of the city.




Jesus in History, Legend, Scripture, and Tradition [2 volumes]


Book Description

This multifaceted work contextualizes Jesus in religion and culture by bringing together articles on folklore, history, literature, philosophy, popular culture, and theology. Many books have been written about Jesus, but this two-volume work takes a different approach than most. What sets it apart is that it emphasizes Jesus' lasting impact on world history and his legacy in the imagination over 2,000 years. Written as an introduction, the encyclopedia is equally suitable for Christians who wish to better understand the history and philosophy of their religion and for non-Christians who wish to grasp Christianity in its historical and social contexts. Alphabetically arranged entries cover representations of Jesus in the bible and the writings of key theologians, examining the essentials of philosophical and religious views across history. The set also includes hundreds of entries that reflect on the role Jesus has played in popular culture and contemporary vernacular religion—perspectives that are not usually placed alongside theology. Through the encyclopedia, students will see how artists, writers, philosophers, church figures, and others have imagined Jesus and been influenced by their perceptions of him. At the same time, primary documents will encourage students to compare and contrast ideas and evaluate arguments that have arisen over 20 centuries.




Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore


Book Description

"Here there be dragons"--this notation was often made on ancient maps to indicate the edges of the known world and what lay beyond. Heroes who ventured there were only as great as the beasts they encountered. This encyclopedia contains more than 2,200 monsters of myth and folklore, who both made life difficult for humans and fought by their side. Entries describe the appearance, behavior, and cultural origin of mythic creatures well-known and obscure, collected from traditions around the world.




Legends of Babylon and Egypt in Relation to Hebrew Tradition


Book Description

"In these lectures [the Schweich Lectures of 1916] an attempt has been made, not so much to restate familiar facts, as to accommodate them to new and supplementary evidence which has been published in America since the outbreak of the war. . . . Hebrew achievements in the sphere of religion and ethics are only thrown into stronger relief when studied against their contemporary background. "The bulk of our new material is furnished by some early texts, written towards the close of the third millennium B.C. They incorporate traditions which extend in unbroken outline from their own period into the remote ages of the past, and claim to trace the history of man back to his creation. They represent the early national traditions of the Sumerian people, who preceded the Semites as the ruling race in Babylonia; and incidentally they necessitate a revision of current views with regard to the cradle of Babylonian civilization." -from the Preface







Arthuriana: Early Arthurian Tradition and the Origins of the Legend


Book Description

This book collects together the academic and popular articles which have been published on the author's 'Arthurian Resources' website -- www.arthuriana.co.uk -- between 1998 and 2009.Praise for Thomas Green's 'Concepts of Arthur' (Tempus, 2007)'Valuable to anyone studying the Arthurian legend... vigorous and comprehensive' [Speculum, the Journal of the Medieval Academy of America]'Concepts of Arthur is that rare thing: a book that offers an original and refocused view of the nature of Arthur... I cannot fault or praise highly enough his respectful handling of British myth' [Arthuriana, the Journal of Arthurian Studies]'Demanding but very important' [Simon Young, author of 'AD 500']




Rethinking Oral History and Tradition


Book Description

Indigenous peoples have our own ways of defining oral history. For many, oral sources are shaped and disseminated in multiple forms that are more culturally textured than just standard interview recordings. For others, indigenous oral histories are not merely fanciful or puerile myths or traditions, but are viable and valid historical accounts that are crucial to native identities and the relationships between individual and collective narratives. This book challenges popular definitions of oral history that have displaced and confined indigenous oral accounts as merely oral tradition. It stands alongside other marginalized community voices that highlight the importance of feminist, Black, and gay oral history perspectives, and is the first text dedicated to a specific indigenous articulation of the field. Drawing on a Maori indigenous case study set in Aotearoa New Zealand, this book advocates a rethinking of the discipline, encouraging a broader conception of the way we do oral history, how we might define its form, and how its politics might move beyond a subsuming democratization to include nuanced decolonial possibilities.




Rethinking Oral History and Tradition


Book Description

"For many indigenous peoples, oral history is a living intergenerational phenomenon that is crucial to the transmission of our languages, cultural knowledge, politics, and identities. Indigenous oral histories are not merely traditions, myths, chants or superstitions, but are valid historical accounts passed on vocally in various forms, forums, and practices. Rethinking Oral History and Tradition: An Indigenous Perspective provides a specific native and tribal account of the meaning, form, politics and practice of oral history. It is a rethinking and critique of the popular and powerful ideas that now populate and define the fields of oral history and tradition, which have in the process displaced indigenous perspectives. This book, drawing on indigenous voices, explores the overlaps and differences between the studies of oral history and oral tradition, and urges scholars in both disciplines to revisit the way their fields think about orality, oral history methods, transmission, narrative, power, ethics, oral history theories and politics. Indigenous knowledge and experience holds important contributions that have the potential to expand and develop robust academic thinking in the study of both oral history and tradition.--