Published Works
Interview
Profile
Ronald Hutton is a leading authority on history of the British Isles in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, on ancient and medieval Paganism
and magic, and on the global context of witchcraft beliefs. He is also the
leading historian of the ritual year in Britain and a world expert on the
history of modern Paganism.
Profile updated: 8 August 2006
Published Works
Of particular interest to the Pagan and Druid community:
The Druids: A History (Hambledon, 2007)
Witches, Druids and King Arthur (Hambledon, 2002)
Shamans: Siberian Spirituality and the Western Imagination (Hambledon, 2001)
The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft (OUP, 1999)
The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain (OUP, 1996)
The Rise and Fall of Merry England:the ritual year, 1400-1700 (OUP, 1994)
The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles (Blackwell, 1991)
The British Republic, 1649-1660 (Macmillan,1990, 2nd ed., 2000)
Other books include:
Charles the Second :King of England, Scotland and Ireland (Clarendon, 1989)
The Restoration (Clarendon, 1985)
The Royalist War Effort, 1642-1646 (London,1982, 2nd ed. 1999)
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Interview
Interviewer: Christine Cleere
Interview date: 1 May 2003
Thank you so much for giving us this interview. We know
your time is very valuable. First of all, can you give us a some background
as to what you do, and your general interests?
I am Professor of History at the University of Bristol, which is probably
the third best in the United Kingdom after Oxford and Cambridge. I am also
a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
The former is the main professional body that represents historians in the
UK and the latter the main one that represents archaeologists; it is quite
rare to have been elected to both. The fact that I have indicates that my
areas of expertise span both history and prehistory. I have a general interest
in paganism, witchcraft and magic in all periods, and expecially in Britain,
but I have also published a lot on sixteenth- and seventeenth century history
of all kinds in the British Isles.
How did you find your spiritual path?
I have never felt myself to be on a path of any kind, as my life has more
the quality of being carried downstream on a raging river full of rocks, so
that all I have to do is try to steer a course through the endless rapids
and enjoy the thrill of the experience. It may be helpful to add, however,
that the parent who brought me up, my mother, was a Pagan, and I have never
been attracted by any other sort of tradition although I have studied many
in the course of my work as a historian. Paganism is therefore my background,
but I am not strongly religious by temperament.
And how would describe your relationship with Druidry?
My interest in history in general, and in the history of Druidry and things
associated with it in particular, has given me an obvious huge area of interest
in common with modern Druids. I am friends with many of them, including most
of the most active chiefs of orders, and belong to three of the orders. I
also have an honorary seat on the Council of British Druid Orders.
There is always much discussion as to the origins of 'modern' Druidry
and its relationship with the past. Whether Druids today are 'real' Druids,
if you like. What are your thoughts on this?
My line on this is consistently that we know so little of certainty about
the ancient Druids that really all we have is a set of literary stereotypes
of them left by foreign or Christian authors. All of the latter may be wrong
or misleading. This means that nobody is in a position to tell modern Druids
that what they are doing is inauthentic, but it is equally true that no modern
Druids are in a position to declare that what they do is the authentic ancient
tradition. We're all working with flawed and unreliable images, and doing
our best with them.
And how would you define Druidry today?
As a constellation of different groups and traditions who are working to develop
and continue a spirituality related to the land which those who hold it inhabit
and which is inspired to some extent by the ancient images of Druidry and
the medieval Celtic literatures of the British Isles.
You have strong views on how the history of Paganism
should be handled. Can you give me a brief overview of this, and the reasoning
for it?
It really boils down to a two-way message. I suggest to fellow academics
that they need to treat modern Paganisms with respect, as viable religions
and spiritualities in their own right, and not declare them invalid because
some of their historical claims have been dubious or because the figures to
whom they look for inspiration (like ancient Druids) may have behaved differently.
I urge Pagans themselves to choose between two courses. One is to keep up
with current academic publication in relevant fields, and (ideally) to carry
out original research themselves based on historical records and excavation
reports. The other is to cease basing claims on history or prehistory and
openly to work with material from the past in a new and creative way. All
this is actually happening now on a large scale, and my 'strong views' were
associated with the polarisation and hostility between academic and 'alternative'
scholarship in the 1970s and 1980s, which has mostly disappeared.
Who and what inspires you today?
I continue to be inspired by most of what I read and hear, which is why I
find life so exciting and exhausting.
What sort of music do you enjoy?
In contemporary terms, a surprising amount of what turns up in the commercial
hit parade. Otherwise lots of folk and most classical music composed between
1850 and 1940.
Do you have a favourite author, and why?
When I was a teenager, my three favourite books were G.K. Chesterton's "The
Napoleon of Notting Hill", Lawrence Durrell's "Justine" and Joris-Karl Huysmans's
"Against Nature". All justified being eccentric in the eyes of straight society.
From further back come Homer, Virgil, Apuleius, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien,
and all those are still with me.
Do you have a favourite time of year, and why?
I hate cold, dark and damp, so constitutionally I love the summer months from
May Day to Lammas. It helps also that the long vacation from university teaching
starts at midsummer.
Can you tell us about some of your previous books? What
inspired you to write them?
I wrote my doctoral thesis on the Cavaliers in the English Civil War, a
teenage enthusiasm that became my first book and got me my post as a lecturer
in 1981. I then wrote three more books on the political history of the British
Isles between 1649 and 1685, including a biography of King Charles II. These
got me promoted to a readership in 1989, and I was now confident enough to
start turning to my other interests. I therefore published a survey of what
was then known of the pagan religions of the ancient British Isles, and two
densely-researched books on the history of calendar customs in Britain. These
got me promoted to my professorial chair, the apex of my profession, in 1996,
and released me to wrote my history of modern Pagan witchcraft, which I have
enjoyed more than any other book to date.
Tell me about your latest projects. What are you working on at the moment?
Since 1999 I have been tying up a number of loose ends left over from my
previous research. The results have been a book on Siberian shamanism and
Western views of it (published in 2001), a collection of essays on different
aspects of paganism, myth and magic (due out from Hambledon and London later
in 2003), a collection of essays on different aspects of Stuart history (just
finished, and over which I am currently awaiting a response from two possible
publishers), and a set of essays on approaches to the history of magic and
witchcraft which have either been brought out in edited collections or are
in the queue for academic journals. I am just finishing another of these,
presenting a global model for the study of witchcraft.
Do have any other projects planned for the near future?
I'm going to work solidly on the history of Druidry for three to five years,
starting at midsummer (2003)!
Thank you so very much for allowing us to ask you these questions. We
look forward seeing more of your work in the future.
