Ronald Hutton

Hutton did an impeccable job, as always, laying out the historical elements at play with unshakable logic and an abundance of kindness and generosity. None but Hutton could point out how much of a sneaky liar someone was with such polite factual sass, while also giving them deeply human grace and the benefit of the doubt. Hutton has mastered the one-two-punch of delivering heartening humanist prose to refocus the reader from the mire of details and ideas. I would encourage anyone who is show more curious about modern magic and modern paganism to invest some time in this book; none will give you greater insight. Feels great to have finally finished this foundational book. It was only when I put it down that I noticed the moon will be completely full in just a few hours. A triumph indeed. show less

This is apparently the first of two books on the subject to be written by Hutton and the more accessible, less scholarly version. Seems Hutton has been getting lots of letters from people who want to read his books but find them "too hard." *sigh* I find that extremely sad. And I can't wait for the longer, more scholarly, extensively noted version. Not that this wasn't interesting--it was. It made me want him to delve further into some of the issues he brought up, such as how it's extremely show more difficult to know exactly what it was the Druids did, given that all written accounts were not only by the Romans, but that exactly ONE was contemporary with any Druids at all, and that would be Julius Caesar, who had a notable and well-known bias against them.

One of the reason I enjoy Hutton's books is that he tends to question ideas that are considered facts when they need questioning. If the evidence is lacking, he points out what's necessary as well as the flaws and why these "facts" may not be so. Did Druids truly incite the Celts to rebel against the Romans? Nice idea and one that we love so much, but there's no evidence to support it. Even human sacrifice remains unproved to Hutton (personally, I think it's pretty likely, but this is why I want the more in-depth book).

This is a very good introduction to Druids, and is even quite good for those who know a fair amount about them (like me). He takes us through the historical Druids, the scholars of Druids, the various interpretations of what people have used the Druids to stand for, the Druid revival of the seventeenth century, right up through the neo-Druid movements of today. It's a good, interesting read. show less

Hutton has out-done himself with this definitive, meticulous, and respectful look into the 2,000 year history of the Druids. There's so much that history has misinterpreted, misunderstood, assumed and forgotten about them.

Turns out, the earliest reference to Druids isn't in Britain, but in Gaul, and described by Julius Caesar. However his writings are based completely on hearsay! Since then, Druids went from being regarded as "savages and menaces to being romantic and admirable, once the show more civilization that was doing the viewing had absorbed them." In France, Germany, Ireland and Wales. The English, in fact, were the last to incorporate them into their ancient history due to their association with the Irish.

The word "Druid" being related to "oak" remained an unsupported fact until the mid-20th c., now largely abandoned. If one has to choose a Druidic tree per se, it's likely to be the rowan. The white robes and their worship of naturally forming henges is also unfounded. Even the famous Lindow Man, when discovered in 1984, was immediately assumed to have been ritualistically killed by Druids. The history of the Druids is full of these kinds of scenarios, bending the evidence to fit the conclusion. By the late 18th c. into the 19th c. once Britain has taken hold, the full romantic Druid is born. There are Druidic poetry clubs, societies with initiation ceremonies and regalia, much like the Freemasons. But where there are free thinkers, there is revolution. Hutton explores this trend through poet Iolo Morganwg. In 1853, Britain even saw its first Noble Order of Female Druids!

Throughout, Hutton isn't trying to slight modern Druids, but instead explores the evolution and creation of something new and our ever growing affection for this mystical and ancient group. show less

Queens of the Wild is a really engrossing exploration of popular modern misconceptions about medieval European religion and folklore. They frequently posit a binary contrast between a repressive, misogynist institutional church and a matriarchal, sex-positive paganism lurking just beneath the surface of every Christian-seeming peasant, together with century-spanning continuities of belief from ancient religions through to modern neo-paganism.

As Ronald Hutton lays out here, these show more misconceptions largely derive from 19th and early 20th assumptions and, to be honest, some plain shoddy scholarship. Hutton examines the medieval and early modern sources about four female figures—Mother Earth, the Fairy Queen, the Lady of the Night, and the Cailleach—and also the modern takes about them. He argues that rather than representing the remnants of a pre-Christian Mother Goddess religion, these figures are largely the creation of medieval Christian authors, and that many associated folk customs are largely 19th century in origin rather than from the Middle Ages.

A really great example of careful, meticulous scholarship. Absolutely recommended for anyone with an interest in these topics. show less