DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Science of Fairy Tales" (An Inquiry into Fairy Mythology) by Edwin Sidney Hartland. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.
St Cadfan's Church, Tywyn, is said to be "as remarkable a church as any in Wales, despite the ravages of time" (Buildings of Wales: Gwynedd). Its unadorned Romanesque arches, and the Cadfan Stone on which is carved the oldest known written Welsh, draw visitors from all over the world. But what link does the church have with Edward I, or Henry VIII, or John Milton? Why was the richest church in Merioneth reduced to begging for money? How and why has the church changed in appearance over the centuries? These and many more questions are answered in this book which traces the history of St Cadfan's Church for 1500 years. Modern and 19th century photographs, together with computer simulations, help to see changes which have occurred. The book also considers some aspects of life in the town of Tywyn and the wider church as they have affected St Cadfan's Church.
The chief object of this volume is to exhibit, in a manner acceptable to readers who are not specialists, the application of the principles and methods which guide investigations into popular traditions to a few of the most remarkable stories embodying the Fairy superstitions of the Celtic and Teutonic peoples. Some of the subjects discussed have already been dealt with by more competent inquirers. But even in these cases I have sometimes been able to supply additional illustrations of the conclusions previously arrived at, and occasionally, I hope, to carry the argument a step or two further than had been done before. I have thus tried to render the following pages not wholly valueless to students. A portion of the book incorporates the substance of some articles which I contributed to “The Archæological Review” and “Folk-Lore.” But these have been to a considerable extent re-written; and it is hoped that in the process wider and more accurate generalizations have been attained. My hearty thanks are due to the various friends whose generous assistance has been recorded in the footnotes, and especially to Professor Dr. George Stephens, the veteran antiquary of the North, and Mr. W. G. Fretton, who have not measured their pains on behalf of one whose only claim on them was a common desire to pry into the recesses of the past. I am under still deeper obligations to Mr. G. L. Gomme, F.S.A., who has so readily acceded to my request that he would read the proof-sheets, and whose suggestions have repeatedly been of the greatest value; and to Mr. Havelock Ellis for the counsel and suggestions which his experience has more than once enabled him to give as the book was passing through the press.
The beginnings of the story -- The intermediate stage -- Geoffrey of Monmouth -- The Arthurian story after Geoffrey : certain early prose versions -- The Arthurian story after Geoffrey : poetical versions of the first one hundred and fifty years -- The Latin prose chronicles of the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries -- The Middle English and contemporary Anglo-French metrical chronicles -- The French prose chronicles and their more direct derivatives (with other vernacular continental chronicles) -- Continental Latin chronicles of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries -- The Scottish versions -- The English and Latin chronicles of England in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries -- Conclusion.
