Description
Throughout the recorded history of Britain, belief in earthbound spirits presiding over nature, the house and human destiny has been a feature of successive cultures. From the localised deities of Britannia to the Anglo-Saxons’ elves and the fairies of overdue medieval England, Britain’s godlings have populated a shadowy, secretive realm of formality and belief running parallel to authorised religion. Twilight of the Godlings delves deep into the elusive history of those supernatural beings, tracing their evolution from the pre-Roman Iron Age to the top of the Middle Ages. Arguing that accreted cultural assumptions should be cast aside with the intention to consider the godlings – including the cherished idea that these folkloric creatures are the decayed remnants of pagan gods and goddesses – this bold, revisionist book traces Britain’s ‘small gods’ to a well-liked religiosity influenced by classical learning. It offers an exciting new way of grasping the island’s so much mysterious mythical inhabitants.
