THE JOHN DEE LIBRARY
History Section
This section of the library includes resources on the history of Britain, Ireland, Scotland and their peoples including some primary texts considered to be mythical and legendary. Focus on the Celts, the Picts, and other pre-historic peoples of these lands. Archaeology is also included here. See also the Literature Section.
Primary Sources: Celtic History
Celtic History General
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, College Road, Cork, Ireland — http://www.ucc.ie/celt. This is a major project to make texts available online. Links to some of the particular sections are included below.
CELT (Corpus of Electronic Texts) Index of Captured Texts. This is the general index to texts which have been "captured" (i.e., scanned electronically). Includes links to lists of Hiberno-Irish texts, French Texts, Irish Texts, Latin Texts, and Translated Texts.
CELT (Corpus of Electronic Texts) Translated Texts. There are scores of primary sources translated into English and available online here in html and plain text formats.
CELT (Corpus of Electronic Texts) published documents. This page links to previously published texts that have been made available online. Some are in Latin, Irish, and other languages than English. Some have been translated into English. Including the Annals of Ulster, The Annals of the Four Masters, The Second Battle of Moytura, and many others.
CELT Bibliography of Bibliographies compiled by Donnchadh Ó Corráin (November 2003). A listing of 123 bibliographies and library catalogs in Celtic Studies.
Internet Medieval Sourcebook. Maintained by the Fordham university medieval studies department. Primary texts in medieval areas mostly other than Celtic (e.g., the full text of Chaucer's Canturbury Tales); excerpts for use in teaching European medieval history, philosophy, and literature.
MS-OMIT (Manuscript Sources to Old and Middle Irish Tales). A list of Early Medieval (until ca. 1100) narrative texts in Irish language with (a) standardized references to their medieval and early modern (not modern) manuscript sources and (b) information about their availability in print.
Archaeological Sources of Druidic Interest
UAOD Grave monument in Forest Home Cemetery, Chicago. A monument erected by members of the United Ancient Order of Druids including a fine statue of a Druid in full regalia.
Essays and Articles
Wales
The Ancestors: from Newgrange to 2000 by Sítheag Nic Trantham bean Bochanan. On ancestor veneration.
Barclodiad y Gawres (The Giantess Apronful). Passage Grave c.5000-4000BC. by Astrocelt. Archaeological remarks about a site in Angelsey, Gwynedd, Wales.
Bodowyr, Brynsiencyn: Neolithic burial chamber 4th- 3rd millennium BC by Astrocelt. A site in Anglesey, Gwynedd, Wales.
Bryn Celli Ddu (Hill of the Dark Grove): Neolithic/Bronze Passage Grave c.4000- 2000BC by Astrocelt. A site in Anglesey, Gwynedd, Wales.
Celtic General
Burial in Ancient Gaelic Cultures by Degraine NicAnTsaoir
Ireland
Concept of Kingship and Sovereignty in the Mythological Cycle and how it is represented In the Archaeology of Tara Monument Complex by Steve Toase
The Picts
Pictish Nation. A web site with several pages of interest and further links on the Picts by artist F. Lennox Campello
Links to Other Resources Online
National Archives of Ireland. The National Archives holds the records of the modern Irish state which document its historical evolution and the creation of its national identity.
National Archives UK. The National Archives of England, Wales and the United Kingdom has one of the largest archival collections in the world, spanning 1000 years of British history, from Domesday Book of 1086 to government papers recently released to the public.
National Library of Ireland. The National Library of Ireland is a cultural institution under the aegis of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism. Its mission is to collect, preserve and make available books, manuscripts and illustrative material of Irish interest.
Rome Unleashed. A web site devoted to Roman history
Books
Ancient Britain
Hutton, Ronald. The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles : Their Nature and Legacy. Blackwell, 1993.
Celts and Druids
Cunliffe, Barry. The Ancient Celts. Penguin, 2000.
Cunliffe, Barry. Iron Age Britain. Rev. ed. Batsford, 2004.
Ellis, Peter Berresford. The Druids. Eerdmans, 1995.
Ellis, Peter Berresford. The Celtic Empire. Constable and Robinson, 2001.
History of Magic: Ancient
Butler, Elizabeth M. Ritual Magic. Sutton Press Stroud, 1998. A scholarly history of ritual magick covering shamanism, the Solomonic tradition and much else. Good for a grounding in objective study and historical perspective.
History of Magic: Medieval and Renaissance
History of Magic: Non-European
Witches, Sorcerers, and Cunning Folk
Briggs, Robin. Witches and Neighbors: The Social and Cultural Content of European Witchcraft. Viking, 1996. A sociological study of witch hunts and the mentality of persecution that has long surrounded the witch as a cultural figure of social deviance. Not a magical study, but worth reading for its perspective on the place of witchcraft in Western culture. The companion volume to the "Witchsmeller Pursuivant" episode of Black Adder.
Murray, Margaret. The God of the Witches. Oxford University Press, 1952. (orig. 1931) Reissued again 1970.
Murray, Margaret. The Witch-Cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology. Oxford, 1921. Also available as a Kessinger Reprint. Perhaps the single most influential book in the foundation of the modern myth of witchcraft as a survival of pagan, pre-Christian religion. Murray's thesis became accepted by many authors and intellectuals of the mid-twentieth century and was used again and again as the basis for the claims made by Gerald Gardner and others for a witch religion (as distinct from the magical practices of witchcraft). An important book, but balance it with Hutton's Triumph of the Moon.
