April 10, 2002

England and Mythology
Richard P.

I would have to strongly disagree with anyone saying that England has an inherent mythology... yes, I have heard of King Arthur, I am an archaeologist, I have worked with people who have worked on proving the existence or non-existence of Arthur. What I said was that England does not have an inherent mythology. Arthur as a myth is something that belongs to the Wessex culture in pre-history, and its modern version is nothing but a Victorian jazzing up of that legend. The country of England, unlike Wales, Ireland and Scotland....... in fact perhaps like no other country in the world, is, and always has been since the end of the Neolithic, a mixture of many cultures, each of whom came in with their own mythologies. However, there was never any real mixing of these myths into a one whole English mythology. Robin Hood may be a myth... but again there is evidence to say that most of the story was a complete fabrication (perhaps an early Tolkien wanting to make a myth for England??? ;-)