Elf Queens and Holy Friars: Fairy Beliefs and the Medieval Church

by Richard Firth Green

In Elf Queens and Holy Friars Richard Firth Green investigates an important aspect of medieval culture that has been largely ignored by modern literary the omnipresent belief in fairyland.

Taking as his starting point the assumption that the major cultural gulf in the Middle Ages was less between the wealthy and the poor than between the learned and the lay, Green explores the church's systematic demonization of fairies and infernalization of fairyland. He argues that when medieval preachers inveighed against the demons that they portrayed as threatening their flocks, they were in reality often waging war against fairy beliefs. The recognition that medieval demonology, and indeed pastoral theology, were packed with coded references to popular lore opens up a whole new avenue for the investigation of medieval vernacular culture.

Elf Queens and Holy Friars offers a detailed account of the church's attempts to suppress or redirect belief in such things as fairy lovers, changelings, and alternative versions of the afterlife. That the church took these fairy beliefs so seriously suggests that they were ideologically loaded, and this fact makes a huge difference in the way we read medieval romance, the literary genre that treats them most explicitly. The war on fairy beliefs increased in intensity toward the end of the Middle Ages, becoming finally a significant factor in the witch-hunting of the Renaissance.

Genres: Medieval, History, Nonfiction, Folklore, Fairies, Mythology, Medieval History

304 pages, ebook

First published September 28, 2016

Reviews

[Berni Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

I disagree with the synopsis given on Goodreads. I don't think this book is attempting to show how the Church demonized fairies.

This is a meticulous researched and documented book which explores the connection between fairies and demons and other things (Elfland and Purgatory, etc.). It has enough quotes in late Middle English to make an English major giddy. Not to mention the quotes in Latin and French. (Fortunately, the latter two languages are translated into modern English. The former, not so much. If I knew how to make the "thorn" character on my keyboard, I'd give you an example. And I don't even know what to call the character that looks like a descending 3 or capital Z in script.)

So a dry and tedious for a non-scholar to read, but I was entertained nonetheless. I didn't even know there were legends of King Arthur going to Italy and stories of him being with Oberon in a place that is more Elfland than Avalon. I wouldn't recommend it for someone looking for something to read, but it's a very impressive piece of scholarship.

[John Leland · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is easily the best book I have seen on its rather specialized subject since the chapter "The Longaevi" in C.S. Lewis's The Discarded Image. The subject is the attitudes of medieval people towards the fairies or elves, by and large not cute little winged Tinkerbells (though that concept did exist) but much more often human-sized beings distinguished from humans by being very long-lived, if not immortal, and possessing magical powers, and often living in a land of faerie abounding the fruits, flowers, palaces and castles, though also often including terrible dangers.
Most were also extremely attractive and were reputed to make full use of that attraction in having sex with humans. Green endeavors to apply a modern "theoretical" gloss to his subject by appealing to Gramsci and others in making the case that the tales of human interactions with these beings often represented a resistance by the "little tradition" of the common people against the "great tradition" of the learned elite, which generally classed these beings as demons and condemned interaction with them --ultimately contributing to the witch hunts of the early modern era. On the whole, I find this theoretical framework not entirely convincing. There is no doubt that there were learned writers who condemned fairies as demons, but there were also plenty of writers for the secular elite, and even some churchmen, who were prepared to regard them as more harmless. This seems to have been true from Walter Map through Chaucer down to Shakespeare, in short all through the period, as Green's own examples demonstrate. For me, the delight in this book is not in its debatable argument but simply in enjoying the vast range of tales about the fairies collected here, mostly fictional but including a certain number of allegedly true accounts.

[Eustacia Tan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Earlier this year, I read a book about the history of English magic and wondered, not for the first time, about the relationship between magic/folklore/fairies and the Church. So I was really excited when I found out that my questions have been at least partially answered in this book: Elf Queens and Holy Friars by Richard Firth Green. As the subtitle says, this book explores the relationship between fairy beliefs and the medieval Church.

Elf Queens and Holy Friars has five chapters:

1. Believing in Fairies – how the Church treated the belief in fairies
2. Policing Vernacular Belief – a continuation of the first chapter
3. Incubi Fairies – Yes, incubi and succubi were originally seen as fairies!
4. Christ the Changeling – a look at the concept of changelings and how that’s used in other situations, including depictions of Jesus in mystery plays
5. Living in Fairyland – Is fairyland a sort of purgatory? Is it on earth?

While this book only has five chapters, it packs a lot of information and references a lot of medieval text. Essentially, what I took back from this book is that belief in fairies was widespread among people (even among the elite) and the Church tended to treat fairies as a form of devil. There was some ambiguity – with some thinking of fairies as less-evil demons who followed the fall instead of actively choosing it – by by and large, the Church disapproved of this belief. That said, it was not a relationship of “unrelieved antagonism”, and the book also looks at how vernacular culture made efforts to adjust its beliefs to Church orthodoxy.

For me, it was especially interesting to see how depictions of fairies changed over time. The biggest surprise was probably the way “changelings” were viewed (and how they came to be), as well as the fact that incubi were originally considered fairies! I also really liked that many different texts were referenced, and it’s easy to see that belief in fairies occupied a fairly ambiguous position in society; the Church may have been opposed to them, but many people held different beliefs and elite writers tended to try and balance these two opposing tensions.

I have to admit, even though I am very interested in this topic, this was not the easiest book to read. The tone of the text falls on the academic side, and more importantly, the older forms of English can be hard for the layperson to read. Green generally provides modern English translations for the French texts, but those in Middle English are presented as-is, which caused me some difficulty when reading.

Personally, I think this book is for two particular types of readers. The first is the huge fan of fairytales as a subject, who doesn’t mind academic works and who reads this to see how fairy belief developed and was treated in the medieval ages. I fall into this category. The second type of reader who I imagine would be interested in the book is an author who is looking to write a story where magic and belief meet and who wants to see how these tensions have been treated by other authors.

This review was first posted at Eustea Reads

[Liam Guilar · Rating 4 out of 5]

The synopsis on Goodreads doesn't sound like the book I read.

This is more an exploration of belief. He shows that there was a widespread belief in fairy land, in changelings, and incubi and succubi, and he examines their depictions in different texts. He also suggests the link between versions of purgatory and fairyland.

While he tracks the opposition to these ideas in intellectual and clerical circles, he's careful not to suggest that the divide between those who did believe and those who didn't was simply one of 'class'. And he shows that the genuine demonisation of a belief in fairies as part of the persecution of witches comes later.

He also suggests that Chaucer's obvious skepticism about fairy belief may have been a contributing factor in the English state's less aggressive persecution of witches.

The range of sources is impressive, although the book would be better if the translation of quotations were treated in a more consistent manner. He translates Latin and French, but his approach to middle English, which must be impenetrable to most readers, is erratic.

[Sharon Healy-Yang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Firth Green has clearly done his research. He draws on extensive primary sources to explore how fairy beliefs of the common people inform not merely folk tales but Medieval literary texts. He is also successful at providing literary, religious, and philosophical texts to demonstrate that high culture literally as well as literarilly demonizes fairy beliefs to assert religious orthodoxy. However, some points are not fully developed, for example the concept of Christ as a changeling. Further, though there's nothing wrong with quoting passages in the original middle English, the use of contemporary symbols instead of letters without translation often makes reading tough going.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, but when it came in I found the style was not to my taste. Written like a thesis, but in the first person, the pages are filled with name and book references, non-translated quotes in Middle English and Middle French, and footnotes galore. Ultimately, this is not casual reading and would, I imagine, be for those who study folklore or use as an academic reference.

[David O. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was very much relevant to my interests as I'm writing a novel dealing with both Fairies and Friars! It's a very academic work so not for most general audiences. Not out of reach of most by any means but not a quick, casual read, either.-

Very much enjoyed it, marked up my copy quite a bit, and will be referring to it often.

[Ellen Sandberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Row 2, Square 4 Mythology

[Alba · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 en realidad pero como goodreads no deja poner medidas todavía porque lleva sin actualizar desde el pleistoceno...

[Melissa]

I'm reviewing this book for a journal, so no spoilers here!