In Search of England: Journeys into the English Past

by Michael Wood

England is the birthplace of many immortal legends told around the King Arthur and Camelot, the Holy Grail, Robin Hood, the mysterious Isle of Avalon. But are these famous stories based on historical events and actual people? And what do they tell us about the character and origins of the Anglo-Saxon world, a culture that helped shape American identity?

In his absorbing new book, Michael Wood examines the roots of English history. Peeling back the layers of literary and oral material that have accumulated over the ages, he offers a fascinating series of rich stories--part history, part myth--that, directly or indirectly, touch on questions of English history and identity. He looks back at the legends surrounding Alfred the Great, King Athelstan, the lost library of Glastonbury, and more.

Wood's emphasis is the Early Middle Ages, and the first two sections of the book offer deep excursions into particular moments in the history of that era. In addition to recounting some well-known legends, Wood considers the manuscripts and other primary sources of historical information on which they are based, assessing the validity of existing documentation, fleshing out historical contexts, and considering the treatment throughout history of these stories by famous writers, poets, and moviemakers.

In the third part of In Search of England, Wood writes about places that illuminate interesting aspects of early Tinsley Wood, near Sheffield, which has been claimed as the site of Athelstan's great victory against the Celts in 937; a farmhouse in Devon which has been occupied since Domesday and possibly long before; and the village of Peatling Magna in Leicestershire, scene of an extraordinary confrontation with King Henry III in 1265. These are the places and events that offer a complementary version of the history that is discussed earlier in the book.

In Search of England is published at a significant moment. With the European union, and with assertions of independence within the United Kingdom, questions about English national identity have become increasingly topical both there and abroad. Wood offers a potent and revealing account of the origins of a culture that has had a significant impact worldwide. His narrative is a rich unfolding of history and legend reaching to the present day, and a delightfully readable meditation on the roots of the Anglo-Saxon world.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, British Literature, 20th Century, Arthurian

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Librarian Note: There's more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Michael David Wood is an English historian & broadcaster. He's presented numerous tv documentary series. Library of Congress lists him as Michael Wood.

Wood was born in Moston, Manchester, & educated at Manchester Grammar School & Oriel College, Oxford. His special interest was Anglo-Saxon history. In the 70s Wood worked for the BBC in Manchester. He was 1st a reporter, then an assistant producer on current affairs programmes, before returning to his love of history with his 1981 series In Search of the Dark Ages for BBC2. This explored the lives of leaders of the period, including Boadicea, King Arthur, Offa, Alfred the Great, Athelstan, Eric Bloodaxe & William the Conquerer (& gave rise to his 1st book, based upon the series).

Reviews

[Sienna · Rating 3 out of 5]

That fount of wisdom, Wikipedia, tells me Wood has been dubbed "the thinking woman's crumpet" (note to self: new nickname for husband), and accordingly he's written a very engaging popular history of English identity. This is one of several In Search of books Wood has penned, so it's obviously working for him. The chapters are a glorious mix of the epic and infinitesimal, exploring national and regional mythology alongside the devastating impact of Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries on antique and medieval manuscripts. The third (and, IMHO, most successful) part presents snapshots of the past that show as much as tell readers about Wood's passion for history, whether he's trying to pinpoint the location of a great battle or articulate a humble building's centuries-long narrative. Here are a couple choice excerpts:

You may think, then, that the search has been fruitless. Just a series of unsubstantiated leaps of the imagination. But to me, it sums up the joy of historical research. I can't pretend that my long trawl through the documents and landscape history of these two South Yorkshire parishes has brought me much closer to understanding the dramatic events of the tenth century. But what it did do was illuminate a corner of the English landscape. What I carry with me from my search is a sense of the layers of our history — symbolized in concrete by the Roman road, the canal, the Victorian railways, and the motorway (itself destined to be ancient one day). And there are the layers of history in terms of people's lives, too: Arnkel, the Saxon farmer of Tinsley; the medieval colonists, like the Heryng family, grubbing the forest; the metalworkers, canal engineers and railway navvies; the miners' families 'scratting' for surface coal in Tinsley Wood in the strikes of 1893 and 1984; the newcomers on the post-war housing estate at Brinsworth; Reverend Gibson and his dwindling flock at Tinsley today. But on this particular journey through time, two things especially stick in my memory: the ancient chapel of Tinsley with its mysterious predecessors, whose Victorian ghost still stands under the viaduct; and above all, Tinsley Wood itself — the magnificent forest of the Domesday Book, whose origins must lie even before the Bronze Age, in the wild wood which covered Britain after the last Ice Age. The forest still seen by Joseph Hunter in the 1820s, with its glades and walks, 'where the grandeur of solitude may be felt'; now just a straggle of trees along a municipal golf-course, in earshot of the unceasing noise of the motorway.

(Chapter 11 - Tinsley Wood, 220-1)

and

Michael was talking about Bede in particular, and medieval people in general:



'Do you think you can ever know them?'



To me it seemed an irretrievable distance. You make a stab out of the fragments which have survived. Occasionally, with people like Alfred, you think you're getting through to their real feelings.



'No, not really,' I said.



But of course the truth was I didn't know them well enough to be able to begin to know them — if that doesn't sound too much of a contradiction. To know how Bede thinks, you have to start by sinking yourself into his beautiful, clear, simple Latin. A task beyond me. And a lifetime's work. That's what it means to be a true scholar.



'Do you?' I asked.



'Oh yes,' he replied. 'I dream of Bede.' He shook his head as if he had taken himself by surprise. 'He speaks to me. I feel as if I know him.'

(Chapter 13 - Peatling Magna: August 1265, 247-8)

Downsides: This book contains some sloppy editing and many, many sentence fragments. If you're going to incorporate French words, please get the accents right. Wood's occasional commentary on recent/contemporary politics was a real turn-off for me, and I was also annoyed that the final chapter — the only one to address England's multiculturalism in the context of historical patterns of immigration (though, weirdly, not conquest) — was framed merely as an epilogue. These are relatively minor flaws and I'd still recommend the book to pop history fans and Anglophiles. (Or should I say Angel-philes?)

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog here in April 2001.

Like every nation, England has its collection of historical mythology, which is of varying truthfulness. This collection of essays is mostly about this subject, the famous and the less famous - Arthur and Robin Hood, on the one hand, to the survival of ancient crafts ("the last bowl-turner of England"), to turning points in English history. Though England is the unifying theme, the collection of essays is not sufficiently focused to make them read as though they were specially written for this book, and there plenty of things which could have provided interesting material but which are not covered - Magna Carta, Simon de Montfort and the English Parliament, and so on.

The eclectic approach is the major problem that In Search of England faces; in other respects (and certainly as far as individual chapters are concerned), it is as interesting and well written as Wood's earlier In Search of ... volumes. Wood's popular history offers a very personal approach particularly appropriate in the TV versions which have been made of some of the books; his obvious engagement with the past makes it exciting and alive for the view and reader.

[Lara Eakins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did indeed take “In Search of England” to England and it has proven to be a fun read. A couple of times there was a convergence of sorts between the book and places I’ve visited or did visit in England and Wales. I like the personal recollections of Wood's in the book. So far I think my favorite part has been on Asser’s “Life of Alfred”. And of course, thanks to my history class, I understand (and actually anticipated) Wood's comparisons with Einhard’s “Life of Charlemagne”! Since I’ve become interested in learning more about Alfred, I’m going to have to look into this work since it’s one of the best potential primary sources on the King, if it is indeed authentic, and I buy Wood's argument that it is. Wood's enthusiasm really shines through in the book and is quite infectious!

[Anne Showering · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent-informative, engaging, fascinating information linking our present day with our past.I loved it!

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love me some Michael Wood.

[Ashley Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful vignettes of the fabric that made up Britain's quilt of history and identity. Sometimes it's still possible to link the ancient with the now...

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely, lovely book! Michael Wood has a passion for humanity, for history, and for language. His research is breathtaking, and his breadth of knowledge is astonishing. I was completely captivated by his unpeeling the layers of history in village after village. I found this Penguin edition in a bookstall on market day in Wells, Somerset. After a day trip to Glastonbury, I settled in to continue reading a perfect companion to the day--Chapter 3: "Glastonbury, the Grail, and the Isle of Avalon." Several days later we stumbled on the rebuilt Saxon village at West Stowe, and, serendipitously again, that night's chapter of Wood was number 6, about bowl-turner George Lailey in his Saxon-type sunken woodworking hut. Never has a vacation been so perfectly wedded to vacation reading! I will treasure this book.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Wood writes in a lively and interesting way about parts of history not often made easily accessible - i.e. the period before and just after the Norman Conquest. By starting from places in modern England, he peals back time over a thousand years or more to reveal what still remains of a period of our history of which most of us are unaware. This book is a fascinating collection of stories, each taking a different place or incident as its starting point to reflect on what made the roots of English history.

[Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful exploration into the history of England, social, religious, culture and how, as anywhere else in the world the present is always shaped by the past.

It reminds me of one of my favourite quotations of which I have never been able to identify the author

"THE FUTURE IS ONLY THE PAST GOING PAST THE PRESENT ON ITS WAY TO BECOME THE FUTURE"

[Erica Fairs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erudite, scholarly and extremely readable. If you want to know where England came from and the history of what has shaped the way we are now, you can do no worse than to add this book to your reading list. Engrossing.

[Hilary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Particularly fascinated by the chapter on the destiny of Glastonbury Abbey's books after the Dissolution. But it's all a wonderful read, full of originality and insight.

[Lois · Rating 5 out of 5]

Splendid, a simply splendid read.

[iosephvs bibliothecarivs · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book full of English life, legends, and history, with the majority focused on early medieval England, my favorite.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anything Michael Wood has written is fabulous, extraordinary, etc. Love this man's work & which my library had some ebooks of his or audio.

[Richard Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of the TV series but none the worse for that. No great insights into the past but a useful compendium of the times.

[Todd B Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best travel book I've ever read. Even though it isn't really a travel book.