There is no pagan remnants in the United Kingdom. ( )

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 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. ( )

It's an investigation into the prevailing argument for "pagan survival" and how this theory emerged. Through the mid-19th to mid-20th c. many scholars argued that a full blown pagan cult had persisted all through the Middle Ages. That common folk had remained mostly pagan until the Reformation. However, we learn that this is an unsupported, unfounded invention, finally put to a halt in the 1990s. At the center of it all was the Mother Goddess. It was argued that there was a worldwide common goddess, to the point where any female saint cult or ancient breasted figure was lumped into this theory. What's most disturbing is that this was applied to colonized areas and always from a western perspective.

Concerning paganism among commoners, they were Christian men and women, same as their accusers, who were tortured into saying whatever the judge wanted to hear. Sure, Hutton explains, traditional rituals survive but when operated in an entirely Christian context, it isn't pagan anymore. Even those like the night roamers or Satia or Holda were created in the late Middle Ages and by Christian leaders as a warning to their congregation. On the bright side, a study of pagan goddesses as literary figures has plenty to offer. The Fairie Queen, Proserpine, Morgana, Gwyn ap Nudd, Queen Mab, Titania, etc Most of these emerged during the era of Chivalry and therefore the later Romanticists. I could tell Hutton was especially enthusiastic on this subject.

I've read Hutton's The Witch this year already, so I knew where he stood. Please understand this isn't an attack on Wicca, that is completely unrelated. But it's a proper study of pagan goddesses and Hutton has been trying since the 90s to undue the damage of folklorists like Murray and Frazer. ( )

An exploration into the 19th century European, primarily British, romance regarding presumed pagan continuity of various characters and stories: mother earth, the fairy queen, the lady of the night, the cailleach, and the like.

For each character the author explores what can actually be known from days past. Mother Earth is primarily a projection; not nearly as influential in antiquity as it would be in the 19th and especially 20th and 21st centuries. There's some continuity in terms of fairies, but otherwise most of the stories as believed to persist throughout the medieval era do not have that kind of evidence; either they existed beforehand or became more influential in later mythology.

The author does well to show that Christianity did pervade English and European thinking; certain elements of previous pagan beliefs were incorporated in various ways into that Christian perspective, but pagan views as such did not persist throughout the ages. It was mostly a fantasy of the 19th and 20th century romantics who imagined such things, and the view persists in many circles to this day.

**-galley received as part of early review program ( )