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Blood and Mistletoe - Hutton, Ronald - Yale University Press
  • May 04, 2009
    492 p., 6 x 9
    32 b/w
    ISBN: 9780300144857
    ISBN-10: 0300144857
  • Cloth: $45.00 sc
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History
Social Science
Religion


Blood and Mistletoe

The History of the Druids in Britain

  • Ronald Hutton
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Crushed by the Romans in the first century A.D., the ancient Druids of Britain left almost no reliable evidence behind. Because of this, historian Ronald Hutton shows, succeeding British generations have been free to reimagine, reinterpret, and reinvent the Druids. Hutton’s captivating book is the first to encompass two thousand years of Druid history and to explore the evolution of English, Scottish, and Welsh attitudes toward the forever ambiguous figures of the ancient Celtic world.

 

Druids have been remembered at different times as patriots, scientists, philosophers, or priests; sometimes portrayed as corrupt, bloodthirsty, or ignorant, they were also seen as fomenters of rebellion. Hutton charts how the Druids have been written in and out of history, archaeology, and the public consciousness for some 500 years, with particular focus on the romantic period, when Druids completely dominated notions of British prehistory. Sparkling with legends and images, filled with new perspectives on ancient and modern times, this book is a fascinating cultural study of Druids as catalysts in British history.

Ronald Hutton is professor of history, University of Bristol, and the author of many books including Witches, Druids, and King Arthur: Studies in Paganism, Myth, and Magic, and Debates in Stuart History. He lives in Bristol, UK.

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