A non-fiction follow-up to the classic "The Way of Wyrd", this book describes the culture of the Anglo-Saxon and Norse peoples during the first millennium AD, and even on into the second. Not the whole of their culture, but that part of it which was governed by their belief-system. And it is aptly called The Real Middle Earth, for this was the world where:-
The gods and goddesses lived in the bright spaces of the Upperworld, along with the light elves. Far beneath, in the cavernous shadows of the Lowerworld, lurked the spirits of the dead; they were accompanied by dark elves and the dragon called Nidhog. And in between, reached by a bridge formed of a rainbow called Bifrost (Trembling Pathway), lay the enchanted landscape of Middle-earth.
Middle-earth was a world of forests and seas, which had to be traversed, opposed, lived with, known. In the sea, we learn, were great serpents, and also 'the people of the sea' - mermaids, seals that were shapeshifters; and in the forest were dragons and elves and spider-monsters. Those who understood and foresaw events on the web of wyrd were the seers and seeresses; those who could cast binding spells and control events were the wizards and witches.
We meet the ents, which ranged from the immense ice-giants, the first beings after the formation of the cosmos, down to smaller ents which stood like mighty oaks, rooted to the ground but with their heads in the clouds, like Tolkein's Treebeard. [...] The old English word "ent" carries the connotation of a fallen race of wise and faithful giants, whose passing was spoken of regretfully in the later Norse Prose Edda at the end of the age of Middle-earth.
We meet the dwarves, who lived in the lower world, working as "magical smiths". They made knives, swords and beautiful jewellery, and "magical objects for the gods and goddesses", including of course Freya's famous girdle or necklace, "the necklace of the Brisings". (The Brisings were the four dwarves Freya had to sleep with in order to pay for the necklace!)
A fascinating book, and great background reading for those who feel at home in the world of the so-called Dark Ages (and for those who would like to feel more at home there) as well as for those addicted to Tolkein!
JM
