The Real Middle-earth: Magic and Mystery in the Dark Ages

by Brian Bates (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2002

  $7.87

  An accessible. popular. intelligent history of the early English civilization on which Tolkien based his world of Lord of the Rings. Tolkien readily admitted that the concept of Middle-earth was not his own invention but an Old English term for the Dark Age world. It was always assumed, however, that the importance of magic in this world existed only in Tolkien's books. Now Professor Brian Bates reveals the vivid truth about this historical culture. The Anglo-Saxons and Vikings believed their universe was held together by an interlaced web of golden threads visible only to wizards, and at its centre was the realm of Middle-earth, peopled by humans but imbued with spiritual power.Drawing on the latest historical and archaological research, Brian Bates uncovers the real Middle-earth, which centred on England, its landscape a home to dragons, elves, dwarves and demons, where spells had real force. The Real Middle Earth is a compelling account of a Dark Age culture as magical, enchanting and compelling as Tolkien's fictional version.

• Used

  Paperback
  2013

  $3.84

  Tolkien readily admitted that the concept of Middle-earth was not his own invention. An Old English term for the Dark Age world, it was always assumed that the importance of magic in this world existed only in Tolkien's works; now Professor Brian Bates reveals the vivid truth about this historical culture. Behind the stories we know of Dark Age king and queens, warriors and battles, lies the hidden history of Middle-earth, a world of magic, mystery and destiny. Fiery dragons were seen to fly across the sky, monsters haunted the marshes, and elves fired poisoned arrows. Wizards cast healing spells, wise trees gave blessings, and omens foretold the deaths of kings. The very landscape itself was enchanted and the world imbued with a life force. Repressed by a millennium of Christianity, this belief system all but disappeared, leaving only faint traces in folk memory and fairy tales. In this remarkable book Professor Brian Bates has drawn on the latest archaeological findings to reconstruct the imaginative world of our past, revealing a culture with insights that may yet help us understand our own place in the world.