Geoffrey AsheBesprekingen

Solid introduction to Glastonbury, its history and it's part in the legends and myths of King Arthur. A healthy skepticism marred only by Ashe's quixotic theory that the Tor's sandstone terraces are some sort of pagan maze. His identification of Arthur with Riothamus is interesting; but apart from one or two points which he claims have similarities to the Arthurian story as it evolved (Riothamus disappeared 'near' the French town of Avalon for example), it is not convincing.

An interesting, scholarly take on the legend and possible truth of King Arthur. Covers the stories, archaeology, development and origins of the legends, etc. Broken up into several essays about different topics. Out of date, but a nice foundation for where the legend came from, as well as a snapshot of how archaeology and historiography work.

Arthur identified as 5th cent. British king Riothanus

ATLANTIS :
LOST LANDS, ANCIENT WISDOM

Atlantis, the island-continent that vanished under the sea, is one of the most haunting themes of legend.
Described by Plato more than two thousand years ago, it is, seemingly, a philosophic myth; yet one
recounted with a magnificence and a wealth of detail which have convinced many that it must have had
some reality. Prehistorians have seen Atlantis as the fountain-head of all civilization; mystics have had
revelations about it; archaeologists have claimed to locate it - sometimes in surprising places. But one fact
little realized is that Plato's genius indirectly created a different myth from that which he
intended - a unique case history in the workings of the human spirit as
it searches for origins and the dawn of wisdom.

Useful reference for someone interested in the history of movements based on prophetic predictions and mass-delusion.

The question of the reality of King Arthur has been answered in various ways and Geoffrey Ashe gives his answer in “The Discovery of King Arthur”. One of the most preeminent Arthurian scholars in the world, Ashe’s thesis brought the possibility of a real Arthur to the public by guiding them through the layers of myth and legend.

Ashe begins his presentation by establishing how the Arthur we have come to know in was first widely distributed, through Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “Histories of the Kings of Britain”. Ashe begins dissecting Geoffrey’s account through the lens of various sources during the supposed time of Arthur’s career as well as giving context to the nature of medieval literary work thus gleaming clues to the real events that Geoffrey based his writing on. Ashe’s analysis of several sources from Roman Gaul, sources from Britain closer to Arthur’s time, and history of the last Western Roman Empire together with clues from Geoffrey’s histories help Ashe narrow in on the individual who was the starting point of the Arthur mythos, the Briton High King named Riothamus.

After naming this candidate whose career inspired the Arthur legend, Ashe then details how over the centuries to Geoffrey of Monmouth and afterwards the embellished and fantasies were created about an individual who seemingly revived Roman Briton’s fortunes and was seen on the Continent as someone to help restore the civilization—as the Roman was viewed. Yet, while this information is intriguing in seeing how the mythos was created and expanded Ashe’s somewhat dry writing style makes the last half of the book somewhat less of an engaging read as compared to the first half when Ashe “discovers” the man behind the legend.

This is my first time reading this book in almost 20 years and frankly this book is not how I remember it, frankly I remembered the information Ashe put in the first half of the book in making his case and willing forgot the second half of the book when he discussed the legend building. This can be put down to Ashe converting a scholarly paper into a book for mass consumption, which is telling as it would be expected that the writing style would be more lively for book for public consumption while a more scholarly work would have a different tone. But that doesn’t mean this is not an overall good book, it is but it does have some drawbacks that potential readers should be aware of before cracking it open.½

An insightful and well illustrated concise introduction to the Atlantis myth, its antecedents and modern representations. Good treatment of Plato's intention in creating it and how and why it developed into the version we know today.

I read this as a teenager after years of reading the myths in various editions. this was a welcome, deeper analysis of the history in as far as there is any, of the myth and the times.

A book of controversy, that has engaged the less fiercely British Arthurians. I know of a book about Arthur's origin that places him in North Wales, and another that places his origin in the Scottish Lowlands. Mr. Ashe has started with the few references to interactions between the British Isles and Gaul in the dying days of the Roman empire. From this, he elaborates that Arthur was modelled on the British chieftain to whom Sidonius Apollinaris wrote a letter, Ricomathis. I think he was Uther Pendragon, but more investigation is required. An interesting read.

Who exactly was King Arthur? Did he exist? If so, where and when? Geoffrey Ashe and other Arthur scholars try to answer some of these questions in The quest for Arthur’s Britain. Ashe sets up the facts and as well as the mythology in the first few chapters. We need to give up our concept of medieval knights as set out in Mallory and reinforced in White’s as well as the Broadway hit . There is evidence that there was an exceptional leader in the Britain of 500 A.D. The writers of the times were a bit sketchy so it is impossible to be sure of names, dates, or places. Archaeologists C. A. Ralegh Radford, Philip Rahtz, and Leslie Alcock write sections depicting Cornwall, Wales and Cadbury. Were they Camelot, Tintagel or Avalon? No one knows for sure. Could we speak of Glastonbury as an island? Possibly. In the sections on life in the Dark Ages, we have to totally let go of our images of both the sacred and the secular. The typical clothing of the war lords was not the shining armor of the Knights of the Round Table but more like the Roman clothing of the occupation of Britain a few short centuries previously. The book ends with the legend updated through the centuries, or as Ashe states it, the “new matter of Britain,” from Tennyson to White. And the writings go on today, with Mary Stewart among others.

The book was written in 1968 with my edition containing an updated section written in 1982. The book, considering that it an edited work with several authors, is internally consistant, probably due to the work of editor Ashe. There are no footnotes. However there is an extensive bibliography of works written prior to 1968 with an update of additional works through 1982. The index is extremely usable. The editor also includes a chronology of known events both secular and religious from the late 300s to the mid 7th century.

There are many illustrations, facsimiles and maps (unfortunately all in black and white). However the system is decidedly odd. When the text refers to a map or other illustration, there is an illustration number in the margin. However there is no set order so you can have numbers 6, 108 and 79 on the same page. Then you need to find those illustrations. Some are spread out among the text, some are in the two sections of plates, with no consistent numbering. It can be challenging to find the correct illustration. And it is necessary to refer to the maps and other photos to augment the text. The captions to the illustrations are excellent and full of information that may or may not also be included in the text.

So did Arthur exist? It is possible that Mallory’s Arthur and the Arthur of British legend were patterned on a war lord of southeastern Britain or Wales. Some of the other knights and even Mordred can be traced to comments in various writings of the period. This is a must read for those who wish to learn more of the Arthurian legend.

SPOILER ALERT

Seven. Seven, 7, seven. Most of the book is taken up with this mystical number, a number with little practicality to explain its lofty status. Our seven-day week, for example, derives directly from the Hebrew reverence for this number, but it’s clumsy; seven divides neatly into neither a 30-day month nor a 365-day year. Why not a five-day week?

As a scholar of Revelation, I’m certainly familiar with the number seven. Seven churches, seven seals, seven angels, seven trumpets, seven bowls of wrath, seven-headed dragons, and more. The number seven bleeds into the Gospel of John as well, with seven I AM’s and seven signs. But the mysticism of this number precedes Hebrew beliefs and is inexplicably common throughout several civilizations, dating back thousands of years.

The subtitle of Ashe’s book is “A Search for Earthly Paradise,” and while the analysis of the number seven is interesting, it isn’t worth half the book; it doesn’t bring us very close to paradise. More interesting is the author’s research into shamanism and the various myths of a northern mountain paradise, an exalted Eden.

In the end, uncovering an earthly paradise is revealed to be too lofty a goal; at best, the most the author uncovers is a distant memory of a golden age of female shamans, with implications about a cultural source or seedbed somewhere between Siberia and Mongolia, which may have been a sort of paradise of Goddess wisdom. By book’s end, even this has dissolved into a number of obscure theories about the origins of our myths and mystical numbers. I’m afraid paradise is forever lost, my friends.

The 60s saw a rapid rise in interest in all things Arthurian, spurred on by a New Age zeitgeist which embraced all forms of fantasy from Tolkien to comics and by other aspects of popular culture, including musicals like Camelot. In the middle of it all a more archaeological approach to the little-understood post-Roman period in Britain was emerging which sought to throw light on what was popularly known as the Dark Ages; and the epitome of this approach was the five-year investigation (from 1966 to 1970) of the Somerset hillfort of South Cadbury Castle by the provocatively-named Camelot Research Committee. Perhaps as a direct result of the publicity surrounding the excavations the 1967 film of Camelot actually featured a map which placed the court roughly where the hillfort was situated.

Most of the contributors to this 1968 volume were directly or tangentially associated with this Committee, and preparations for the book began as the results of the first year of excavation were being processed. The result was a compendium that was, for the time, an authoritative summary of the history, archaeology, literature and continuing cultural appeal of the Arthurian period and the Arthurian legends, plentifully illustrated with maps, line drawings and photos. After its appearance in hardback it was frequently re-issued as a paperback by Paladin, thus literally extending its shelf-life.

As a snapshot of what was known or could be surmised about the Arthurian ‘reality’ it was of its time, but in retrospect much of it still stands up to scrutiny four decades and more later, despite advances particularly in archaeological research. Its influence was immense, so much so that non-academic writers still ill-advisedly use it as their Arthurian bible, when Christopher Snyder’s more up-to-date 2000 study The World of King Arthur would provide a better overview (though even this is very dated).

The Quest for Arthur’s Britain is particularly nostalgic for me as I spent part of one season as a volunteer digger at South Cadbury helping to excavate the southwest gate and part of the summit, and also met or knew some of the contributors to this volume; sadly most of them have since passed away. Although the text only hints at this, the dig captured the public’s imagination and made archaeology very rock & roll (in much the same way as Time Team was to do in its way at the end of the century); it’s difficult now to fully appreciate what an impact it made in popular culture, though it certainly made a lasting impression on me.

http://wp.me/s2oNj1-questing

First published in 1957, this is the post-war book that really re-invigorated interest in King Arthur and the Dark Ages by focusing on the medieval notion that he was buried in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey. On the surface all the omens were good: archaeologically there was evidence that there was an ancient cemetery here – in the early sixties a prominent archaeologist, Ralegh Radford, would even pinpoint where 12th-century monks dug for the supposed grave of Arthur – legends placed Dark Age saints here, the medieval abbey was one of the richest (if not the richest) monastic foundation in the country, and many people in recent times have been attracted by the supposed aura of the place. Certainly Ashe, a Catholic, believes there is something special here, and that the legends, even if not true, have a significance beyond the claimed facts; and he has lived on the slopes of Glastonbury Tor for many decades now, a vindication of the magic of this small Somerset town.

If however you don’t fall prey to that magic, see the town as ordinary or – worse – tawdry, doubt that legends are anything other than the product of Rumour and Time, suspect that the tomb of Arthur may have been a publicity stunt by medieval monks and believe that the existing archaeology is at best ambiguous, then King Arthur’s Avalon still stands as a testimony to the ability of a young writer to capture a contemporary yearning for past glories, a zeitgeist that remains attached to Glastonbury well over half a century later and looks certain to be a powerful force for many years to come.

There have been many other books on Glastonbury since, most, I have to say, full of woolly mystical thinking and little else. An excellent survey of the archaeology, history and mystery by the late Philip Rahtz entitled, unsurprisingly, Glastonbury (published jointly by English Heritage and Batsford in 1993) is one of the very few I would recommend for its mix of historical accuracy and informed speculation. King Arthur’s Avalon’s very title, on the other hand, makes assumptions about the existence of Arthur, his status as monarch, his connection with Glastonbury and, indeed, the town’s original name, while the style is a little patronising and certainly of its time; but there is much that one can still profit from, particularly its survey of the part the medieval abbey played in contemporary politics, religion and culture.

Ashe himself has gone on to be a successful writer on a range of other subjects (he received an MBE in recognition of his contributions as a cultural historian), but still comes back to re-visit many of themes he first set out over five decades ago in this seminal book.

http://wp.me/s2oNj1-avalon

Ashe produced his first book on the Arthurian legends – King Arthur’s Avalon – in 1957, and over half a century later he still returns to the Matter of Britain, most recently in this overview of Merlin (first published in 2006 as a hardback by Sutton, now subsumed into The History Press).

In his own words Ashe “traces the evolution of the legend, the growth of Merlin as a character, his possible historical aspect, and the principal treatments of him in literature,” and adds a supplementary list of modern transformations. There is a select group of illustrations which reflect different aspects of Merlin’s developing story, and a useful bibliography (would, however, that it had been divided up into fiction and non-fiction).

Ashe was famously described as a “middlebrow” author, and here he writes with his customary confidence, born of long familiarity with the material, eschewing scholarly references (or even, disappointingly, an index) and revisiting old themes of his. As always, he writes with flair and ease, and there is the usual oblique approach to some of the strands he teases out which means the subject is illuminated as if by flashes of lightning. A useful introduction this, but for more detailed argument you would have to go elsewhere. This is, above all, a personal response, as befits someone who lives in Glastonbury, that most legendary of Arthurian places, on a site subsequently chosen as Merlin’s “nest” by the romantic novelist Persia Woolley.

http://wp.me/s2oNj1-prophet

Fantastic! A great survey of British mythology that does not follow one school of belief but examines each facet with a trained, scrutinizing eye leaving the reader with a superb knowledge and understanding with his to draw his/her own conclusions.

Geoffrey Ashe takes us into a world of medieval Europe in search for King Arthur. Did he exist or is he nothing but a myth? His journey leads to a most intersting outcome.½

Kings and Queens of Early Britain is Geoffrey Ashe's history of Britain from the Celtic settlement through Roman oversight and withdrawal, then through Anglo-Saxon rule to Alfred the Great. He takes as foundation later works by Nennius, Gildas and Geoffrey of Monmouth that are known to be problematic for historians, sorting out legend from known or probably historical passages to make a pretty good history of the rulers over these diverse kingdoms.

Of course, one topic of much discussion is the possible historical basis for Arthur and the legends that grew up about him, mostly as documented by Geoffrey (not the much later version we're more familiar with). Ashe is suitably skeptical, but finds other sources to substantiate his idea that there's a real person hidden behind the legends. He goes on to explore this idea in other books.

Ashe is a bit terse at times, and all the names and places can be a bit confusing, but for the most part, this is a decent work. For me, the biggest negative was the lack insight into the archaeology that supports or negates the histories Ashe uses - he only occasionally touches on this work and a bit longer book that included more would have been better, I think.½

If you are serious in your search for the actual historical Arthur, this book is for you. Otherwise, don’t bother, as it does involve dedicated focus to read, and can be somewhat tedious. This is due, no doubt, to the fact that Ashe is handling primary source material spanning many centuries, and presenting us with the relevant details in a relatively small tome. Quite an undertaking, and one which he handles quite masterfully. To observe Ashe’s thought processes as he fits pieces together is gratifying, and his wry sense of humor is enjoyable (esp. when he pokes fun at the “Arthur-as-god” camp). Definitely worthwhile.½

In Rabelais' work Gargantua (which sadly, I have not yet read, but just ordered after reading this) , there is a section in which the author imagines a Utopian "abbey" named Theleme; the only rule of living there is "Do what you will." Ashe looks at this rule, and asks the question of what happened when people have tried living by this motto, both in reality and in fiction. Furthermore, he examines the question of libertinism being the same as liberty -- and the result is a look through a slice of history. I will tell you at the outset that this is not a book for the average reader, and it's not a titillating tell-all about the much misconstrued and notorious Hellfire Clubs.

Ashe takes the theme of Theleme through the book, looking into various individuals & organizations who have practiced the "do what you will" theme. Taking a road that leads from Rabelais, he examines John Dee and his assistant Edward Kelley, then moves to different erotic literature characters (and authors) of the 18th century, then the various Hell-fire Clubs, spending quite a bit of time with the one organized by Sir Francis Dashwood. His examination takes him into the world of politics, since most the highest-ranking members of this group were also members of government. Then it's on to Gothic literature, the Marquis de Sade, Lord Byron, Aleister Crowley, Anton LaVey (founder of the Church of Satan) and a wee bit about the "family" of Charles Manson.

Very well done, but it is important to realize that this is a book of history and as such, not something that a reader wants to choose lightly. It takes a while to get through it, but it is well worth it. I'd recommend it to anyone seriously interested in the topic, and anyone who is looking for a resource on the subject.

A must-have for any Arthurian fan!

A controversial history of Glastonbury, which makes great claims for it to be the sacred site of the "glass island" of the druids, of King Arthur's grave, and of the Holy Grail.
First written in 1957, republished in 1972 with a revised introduction. An interesting read for the general public, visitors to Glastonbury, and "new age" seekers, but not accepted by academic historians.

This book is for people like me who want to know the man behind the myth. Ashe provides a plausible candidate for the basis of the King Arthur legend.

HB

Asia > Biography and History > Indian Subcontinent