Fantastic Histories: Medieval Fairy Narratives and the Limits of Wonder

Fantastic Histories explores the political and cultural contexts of the entry of fairies to the historical record in twelfth century England, and the subsequent uses of fairy narratives in both insular and continental history and romance. It traces the uses of the fairy as a contested marker of historicity and fictionality in the histories of Gerald of Wales and Walter Map, the continental mirabilia of Gervase of Tilbury, and the fourteenth- and fifteenth-century French Mélusine romances and their early English reception. Working across insular and continental source material, Fantastic Histories explores the practices of history-writing, fiction-making, and the culturally determined boundaries of wonder that defined the limits of medieval history.

Author: Victoria Flood
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: 01/20/2026
Series: Manchester Medieval Literature and Culture
Pages: 304
Weight: 0.78lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.64d
ISBN: 9781526195852