Twilight of the Godlings: The Shadowy Beginnings of Britain's Supernatural Beings

by Francis Young

Throughout the recorded history of Britain, belief in earthbound spirits presiding over nature, the home and human destiny has been a feature of successive cultures. From the localised deities of Britannia to the Anglo-Saxons' elves and the fairies of late medieval England, Britain's godlings have populated a shadowy, secretive realm of ritual and belief running parallel to authorised religion. Twilight of the Godlings delves deep into the elusive history of these supernatural beings, tracing their evolution from the pre-Roman Iron Age to the end of the Middle Ages. Arguing that accreted cultural assumptions must be cast aside in order to understand the godlings – including the cherished idea that these folkloric creatures are the decayed remnants of pagan gods and goddesses – this bold, revisionist book traces Britain's 'small gods' to a popular religiosity influenced by classical learning. It offers an exciting new way of grasping the island's most mysterious mythical inhabitants.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Folklore, Religion, Mythology, British Literature, Academic

383 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2023

Reviews

[Annarella · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lot of literature about British supernatural beings but most was written by folklorist long ago and some are more fantasy than history
This is an informative and intriguing book, a bit harsh at times, but never dry.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[Jenna Deaton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twilight of the Godlings by Francis Young is an excellent examination of nonhuman mythical beings excluding gods or angels in pre Christian British lore..
The text was intriguing and educational while remaining approachable for readers like myself who are not actively engaged in current academia on the topic. .
I will be seeking out a physical copy of this title come its release date and would recommend it for anyone interested in British and Celtic lore.

[Tom Fordham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful book to read. The origins of Britain's folkloric beings has often fascinated me and Young's approach to complex often conflicting subject matter was accessible and very readable. Young's arguments and sources are well researched and well laid out, and although I'm a fan of Ronald Hutton I had a much easier time understanding what was put forward. I think this is a great entry point to the subject - before we can graduate to Hutton - and a must read for those looking for a scholarly approach to folklore.

[Evelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the idea of this book. It examines the origins of the British belief in fairies and the middle realm and follows it back to its pagan roots. First let me say I didn’t hate this book. There is a lot of great information in there that I found to be really interesting. On the down side there is a lot of information in there. It reads like a textbook and I found myself wading through lots of extraneous information to get to the point the author was trying to make.

It took me quite a while to read this one. I would have to set it down days, sometimes weeks at a time, but I did always come back to it. If you are interested in this subject, I do think it is a worthwhile read, but it’s not always an easy one.

[History Today]

This was chosen by Eleanor Parker, Lecturer in Medieval English Literature at Brasenose College, Oxford and columnist at History Today, as one of History Today’s Books of the Year 2023.

Find out why at HistoryToday.com.

[Alice Vandommele · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a lot.

The author seeks to historicise fairy belief by tracing it through various stages of British history, instead of just treating it as a primordial thing, or positing that nothing can definitely be known about it. It argues that there are continuities in the existence of these sorts of beings in the longue durée even though there are changes in their identities and traits at particular historical moments.

To do so, he weaves a meandering web through theological writings, anecdotal representations of folklore and archeological evidence, and the various modern interpretations of these by scholars. It often leaves you a bit lost in the labyrinth of various tangents. While I do wish it had been slightly more concise or focused, I think this is also the nature of the beast: when dealing with something like folklore, which is already nebulous, and then having to trace it through periods where the source base is extremely narrow, this often ends up being how you have to write if you don't want important information supporting your argument to get lost. It definitely requires a second read.

Some other reviewers have commented that Young argues that fairies are a literary creation and I do object to that characterisation. In fact he explicitly refutes that argument, as it was made by Hutton in Queens of the Wild. It's true that much of his analysis does involve elite literary sources, often in Latin, and I do think this to some extent skews his argument towards emphasising the influence of classical sources. But he makes it clear at numerous points that there would have been folk belief involved in this, even though how it relates to the written sources and how the two influenced each other is hard to reconstruct. He's far from arguing fairies are merely a fabrication of elite writers, quite the opposite.

Overall I think the author creates a plausible picture of fairies as high/late medieval composite creatures, cobbled together from various strands of earlier folk belief and literary ideas. It is not the only possible origin for them, and the author doesn't claim that, but it is argued in a way that shows it to be plausible.

One thing that I did, perhaps, find disappointing is the narrow focus. It focuses specifically on British fairy beliefs, but really it is mostly confined to Wales, Cornwall and England, Scotland only features occasionally. It's not that there's no merit to this: there are unique features to fairy tradition in England and Wales, and a narrow geographic focus helps to keep the narrative and sourcebase manageable. But fairy belief is something that spans most of northern and western europe. While the author certainly pulls in evidence from the continent at numerous times, both to show direct influence and to do comparisons with the situation in other countries, this book still leaves me hungry for a history of fairy belief in a larger geographical area.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Cambridge University Press for an advance copy of this book on England, the supernatural, where these creatures came from, and where they went.

I was talking to my nephew about our family and he asked me about my Nan, my grandmother and his great-grandmother. My nephew leaned in and conspiratorially whispered. "Daddy (my brother) said she was witch". I couldn't disagree. Nan could read tea leaves, told my mother she would have two boys, was the one everyone asked advice of, and told stories about Ireland, the coasts and shores and the creatures that lived on it, that I still have never seen in other books, stories I can barely remember and are lost to us when she passed away. Nan was also a Catholic, who went to Church everyday she could, though my Grandfather did not. In her the past and present were alive, and she saw no problems with reading tea leaves and lighting a candle. Twilight of the Gods Francis Young looks at the supernatural past of Britain and Ireland, wondering what happened to certain ideas, what adapted, and why.

England has always had its own mythology, and in many ways the past has been written by the victors. After the Romans came and killed those they couldn't rule, much of the past has been lost to origins of a lot of supernatural ideas. However starting much was changed, adapted and made anew by many of the new thoughts and beliefs that were starting to come to England and Ireland. Many areas, more secluded areas kept the old ideas, and adopted the new as a why not kind of principle. Others had change forced on them. And yet many of the ideas, the godlings still had their influence, and still effected many of the people and their traditions.

A very different way of looking at the past and beliefs. Francis Young does a very good job of asking questions, answering them, and explaining why. Much of this could drift into deep academic thought, but Young keeps everything clear and concise, neither talking up or down, but just explaining ideas, and reasons. Young explains why many of the ideas from the past were used in the new faith with clear examples, and again clear writing.

A book that asks a lot of questions and mostly answers them. Recommended not only for those who enjoy books on early religion, but for readers of early mythology, and cultural history. Also game designers and writers of fantasy stories and graphic novels will find many ideas, an even better explanations for why some ideas hold on, and others are forgotten.

[Inkyhooves · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my very favorite things about "Twilight of the Godlings" is that it looks at the question "Where did the belief in British fairies come from?" and rather than saying "we can never know! such things are lost to time!" it sets out to discover what we can indeed know or infer about early beliefs in British supernatural creatures.

This book is deep dive into the religious and mythic history of Britain and I think it is best suited for those with a bit of background in the topic. I certainly don't believe that you need to be an academic to read and understand it, and I expect anyone with a little familiarity with (and curiosity about!) the creatures that haunt folklore will find this book very rewarding. This is not a collection of myths and tales, but an exploration of where the fairies in those old tales came from. There is a lot of focus on linguistics and discussion of what can and cannot be deduced from names.

One of the things I most appreciated about the book was how the author managed to covey both the idea that people of the far past are still people, but also the fact that people long ago had very different lives and beliefs than we do now. The author brings up the fact that people historically have not been entirely unified in their beliefs, even people of the same time, religion, and culture will have variances.

It was really fascinating to see the writer explore the connections between literary stories and fairy beliefs. Young points out that just because supernatural creatures appear in tales does not automatically mean that the writers or tellers of such stories believed in such creatures or if they did, that the beings they believed in were the same as the ones in their stories. Also explored are ideas about how literary tales impacted and shaped belief in the creatures they portrayed.

Finally, it was a good deal of fun to see pointed out the fact that the fairies are always said to be leaving or to have left long ago, but somehow they also seem to always be around. These creatures supposedly belong to the shadowy past, or at least so say the writers of centuries ago. However, our ongoing interest in the fey shows that the hold such things has on our minds is yet one more way modern people are connected to those of the past.

Many thanks to Cambridge University Press and NetGalley for an advance e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Michael Doane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twilight of the Godlings is a rigorous, absorbing, and intellectually daring exploration of Britain’s lesser-known supernatural traditions. Francis Young approaches the elusive world of elves, fairies, and local spirits not as quaint folklore or faded paganism, but as a serious and evolving system of belief that existed alongside and often in tension with official religion. His revisionist framing challenges long-held assumptions and invites readers to rethink what these beings truly represented in the religious imagination of Britain.

What makes this book especially compelling is Young’s ability to balance academic depth with narrative clarity. Drawing on theology, classical learning, medieval history, and folklore, he traces Britain’s “small gods” across centuries without reducing them to mere mythic leftovers. Instead, he situates them within lived religious practice, popular belief, and intellectual exchange. Twilight of the Godlings is both a corrective and a revelation essential reading for anyone interested in mythology, folklore, or the hidden continuities of belief that shape cultural history long after they slip into shadow.

Michael

[Sam Worby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting ideas, but had that occasional academic habit of saying perhaps, perhaps, perhaps, then a few pages later treating the conclusion like a certainty to build on. The most frustrating element was that the book is about the origins of fairy belief. It acknowledges the paucity of evidence, particularly of a bottom up nature but then concludes - on some pretty shaky grounds and analogies - that the origin is top down (ie largely literary). At the same time the evidence presented suggests that a litany origin is one of several plausible explanations but a non elite explanation can never be given credibility because there is limited evidence (which was largely only produced by elites). I end up partly convinced by the people young is arguing against who suggest that finding an origin is not actually possible with the evidence available.

[John Damon Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read. Young narrates the story of the development origins of the of England's middle realm. Rather than one simple thesis to explain fairies, Young is quite careful to be nuanced and cautious in explaining the godlings and their folkloric descendants. I did find it incredibly compelling his insistence that they should not be seen as pagan religion surviving but rather as artifacts of a Christian world; although not part of Christianity themselves. Because they inhabit a space not excluded by Christianity but not entirely fleshed out by theology they are allowed to live and thrive in the common consciousness. More to be said here but suffice it to say if you have any interest in English folklore it's probably worth a read.

[Sam Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ironic really, what with their links with nature, that the forms those pesky fairy folk ended up taking were probably the result of cross-pollination from various traditions, cultures, mythologies, and when we get to the Medieval, literature. Evidence for belief in these almost-human beings pre-Roman times being virtually zero, there's not a lot to go on when it comes to their supposed ancient roots; whether the embodied spirit of a place was being worshipped or the place itself. But humans, it seems, just can't let these elusive companions go. Fascinating, information-packed book.