British Myths and Legends

by Richard Barber (Editor)

A three volume set:

1. Marvels and Magic
2. Heroes and Saints
3. History and Romance

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Mythology

708 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Richard William Barber is a prominent British historian who has been writing and publishing in the field of medieval history and literature ever since his student days. He has specialised in the Arthurian legend, beginning with a general survey, Arthur of Albion, in 1961, which is still in print in a revised edition. His other major interest is historical biography; he has published on Henry Plantagenet (1964) and among his other books is the standard biography of Edward the Black Prince, Edward Prince of Wales and Aquitaine. The interplay between history and literature was the theme of The Knight and Chivalry, for which he won the Somerset Maugham Prize in 1971 and he returned to this in The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief (2004); this was widely praised in the UK press, and had major reviews in The New York Times and The Washington Post.

His other career has been as a publisher. In 1969 he helped to found The Boydell Press, which later became Boydell & Brewer Ltd, one of the leading publishers in medieval studies, and he is currently group managing director. In 1989, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, in association with the University of Rochester, started the University of Rochester Press in upstate New York. The group currently publishes over 200 titles a year.

Reviews

[Kieran McLoughlin · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a man who absolutely loves mythology, I was really looking forward to finally reading the myths and legends of my own country. However, and I hate to say it, our myths just aren't that interesting. Sure it was nice to read a (somewhat) real account of Hamlet, but for every few pages of interesting writing there's a lot of bloat and repetitive passages which are similar to the way the old testament bible is written. Funnily enough, I had to stop reading that around a quarter way in because of just how boring it is to read. I don't know if people in the old times liked hearing about everyone's exact linage, but for today's reader I just found it incredibly taxing. In a strange way, perhaps with my experience in reading the Greek, Norse and Egyptian myths I was spoiled by the epicness and magic of those tales. Sadly, Britain's mythology is not so wonderful. It takes a lot for me to stop reading a book, but here I felt like I had no choice. Perhaps it's just a product of its times.