Wild: Tales from Early Medieval Britain

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Jeffs teases out nuance, divining moral and metaphorical meaning from each story, and questions ways that this living history of Britain impacts upon our present-day understanding of landscape. The writing throughout is celebratory and evocative." In Wild, the writer and medievalist Amy Jeffs blends fact and fiction to “evoke and contextualise [Britain’s] ancient imaginative landscape”. Broadly covering the years 600-1000, a period of “migration, conversion and belief in monsters, demons, angels and omens in the sky”, the book comprises seven themed chapters: Earth, Ocean, Forest, Beast, Fen, Catastrophe and Paradise. Each begins with a short story inspired by objects or texts that have survived from early medieval times, and are rooted in their surroundings, after which Jeffs takes a closer look at the sources. Jeff's tales are haunting and emotive, rich in sensory details; touch and temperature, noise and frosty fingers, the crisp of decay touched leaves, warriors call and sing. A natural world and wild landscape that bring old words shrouded time to imaginative life. If you're coming to Coles by car, why not take advantage of the 2 hours free parking at Sainsbury's Pioneer Square - just follow the signs for Pioneer Square as you drive into Bicester and park in the multi-storey car park above the supermarket. Come down the travelators, exit Sainsbury's, turn right and follow the pedestrianised walkway to Crown Walk and turn right - and Coles will be right in front of you. You don't need to shop in Sainsbury's to get the free parking! Where to Find Us

It was as I was studying Britain’s medieval origin myth, the Brut, and completing my thesis for my phD that I came across so many things that made my heart leap,” Amy tells me. “They weren’t necessarily of deep academic interest but I felt that not enough people appreciated the hilarity and drama and beauty of these origin myths of Britain.” I was also interested in how you might extrapolate from that something of his behaviour – thinking how that childhood trauma might have impacted his actions as an adult and his own approach to parenting.”

I think when we forget the histories we once believed, we can’t appreciate the motivations that led to events and decisions that had a real material impact on the future. Just because we no longer believe in giants and goddesses doesn’t mean we should dismiss them as whimsy.” During her PhD Amy co-convened a project researching medieval badges and pilgrim souvenirs at the British Museum. She then worked in the British Library's department of Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern manuscripts. The book is put together in a brilliant way: each chapters starts with Amy Jeffs' re-imagining and retelling a story from this period, enriching them with very human emotions, timeless wisdom, historically accurate facts, she effortlessly weaves art and artifacts from the time into the story and gives them new meaning by doing so. After the retelling of each story, she gives a detailed explanation in a very informative and entertaining way. I believe this is exactly the right way to keep these stories, cultures, ideas and values alive. This is how we can make people care about these extremely valuable treasures of an era long past. Chapter two a hauntingly melancholic highlight where loneliness stands out for a delicate twist to an epic saga

I suppose with choosing to tell it through the eyes of Prince Leir – I was interested in what parental pride looks like through the eyes of a child because, of course, children trust and believe their parents, and so maybe there is a disjunct between what Leir sees and what the reader sees. Jason Watkins reads this terrific portrait of London’s Soho between the wars, featuring a long cast of characters including Nellie Coker, a nightclub owner; Frobisher, a police inspector investigating Nellie’s business; and Gwendolen, a young librarian hired to search for some missing girls. With her musical creations equally as enchanting as her other work, there is no doubt that Amy is a multi-talented artist and author with plenty more to come.As we visit every corner of the nation from Orkney to Cornwall, from Snowdon to Stonehenge, Amy creatively peers through the eyes of characters who only ever played supporting roles, allowing us as readers to appreciate the stories from a different perspective. In a commentary that follows each retelling, Amy expands on the historical references and hidden meanings buried within the original source materials – a fascinating and much-welcomed addition to the book. A desire to share the stories and get people excited about them was the beginning of it all. I was fascinated by how the illustrations in the Brut legend followed the narrative action but they were very concise illustrations and communicated so many elements of an episode so efficiently. I really enjoyed that challenge of persuading people through pictures that these were stories to pay attention to and to enjoy.” In Wild, Amy Jeffs journeys – on foot and through medieval texts – from landscapes of desolation to hope, offering the reader an insight into a world at once distant and profoundly close to home. The seven chapters, entitled Earth, Ocean, Forest, Beast, Fen, Catastrophe, Paradise, open with fiction and close with reflection. They blend reflections of travels through fen, forest and cave, with retelling of medieval texts that offer rich depictions of the natural world. From the Old English elegies to the englynion and immrama of the Celtic world – stories that largely represent figures whose voices are not generally heard in the corpus of medieval literature: women, outcasts, animals. I think when we forget the histories we once believed, we can’t appreciate the motivations that led to events and decisions that had a real material impact on the future. Just because we no longer believe in giants doesn’t mean we should dismiss them as whimsy.”

I had really loved the storytelling and art work in Storyland and when I found out that there was a sequel coming out covering the early medieval period in a similar fashion I was excited. One interesting thing about Bladud is the resemblance between the story of Icarus and Daedalus. Bladud commits the same crime of desiring to fly – to achieve the ultimate,” Amy hints. “And just as Daedalus is in some ways punished to achieve human flight, there is a punishment in store for Bladud.”Many of these stories were really dominant in Britain until the mid-16th century when we would see more modern techniques of historical inquiry take over and tales of goddesses and giants fall by the wayside slightly, but some of these stories were taken so seriously that they really did inform political decision making. Jeffs’ writing shows the reader that the abstract notion of the Wild, ever present to the medieval mind, is still accessible in the modern day. While people may no longer view the ocean as the “restlessness” that the early medieval folk thought of it as, the wandering seafarer remains a familiar figure throughout literature to this day. Similarly, the contemporary climate crisis echoes the experience of Lindisfarne before the Vikings invaded. Most now see us as living on the precipice of Doomsday. Jeffs ventures to show the reader a way to live upon that cliff’s edge with grace and perhaps even joy, through the celebration of unity that the monks used to create some of the most beautiful art of all ages. My only real disappointment is that there weren’t more tales to read, another beautifully researched and produced book.

A desire to share the stories and get people excited about them was the beginning of it all. I was fascinated by how the illustrations in the Brut legend followed the narrative action but they were very concise illustrations and communicated so many elements of an episode so efficiently. I really enjoyed that challenge of persuading people through pictures that these were stories to pay attention to and to enjoy.” A linocut illustration by Amy Jeffs depicting the ancient story that saw Merlin, the wizard of Arthurian legend, create Stonehenge. From the chapter titled Stonehenge From 1st July 2021, VAT will be applicable to those EU countries where VAT is applied to books - this additional charge will be collected by Fed Ex (or the Royal Mail) at the time of delivery. Shipments to the USA & Canada: Many of these stories were really dominant in Britain until the mid-16th century when we would see more modern techniques of historical inquiry take over and tales of goddesses and giants fall by the wayside slightly, but some of these stories were taken so seriously that they really did inform political decision-making. Most listeners to The Folklore Podcast will be familiar with Dr. Amy Jeffs’ brilliance. Art historian, artist, and regular contributor to Country Life Magazine, Jeffs is a multifaceted individual, who pairs her linocut and wood-engraving artwork with her historically inspired writing. Her previous book Storyland, which focused upon the history and legends of the United Kingdom and Ireland as a whole, was covered in Season 7, Episode 108 of The Folklore Podcast. Wild: Tales From Early Medieval Britain, her new book published by Quercus Publishing, focuses not upon the history of the founding of Britain, but rather upon the life experience and mentality of those living there. In the authors's own words: "The ice-encrusted, storm-swept, eel-infested, midnight-sun-illuminated wilderness of literature in Old English, Insular Latin and Middle Welsh, lends drama to the articulation of philosophies inherited from the works of Classical thinkers, the Bible, and Germanic and Celtic pre-Christian traditions. The messages that shine through are timeless in their comfort: this too shall pass, we are part of something beautiful, creation is full of wisdom. I hope the stories' accessibility will encourage the greatest number of readers towards the wonders of the primary sources, while keeping those sources alive in our culture by means of creative interpretation."The seven chapters of the book each focus upon a theme: Earth, Ocean, Forest, Beast, Fen, Catastrophe, and Paradise. The chapters open with a reimagining of a poem or riddle from the Exeter Book, and end with the author’s reflections upon what was just written. While the writings are beautiful, they also add enough to the writing itself that I was tempted to reread and capture what I had missed the first time around.