Nora Chadwick – författare

The Celtic period was one of tremendous expansion, the last phase of European material and intellectual development before the Mediterranean world spread northwards over the Continent and linked it to modern times. Nora Chadwick's classic survey traces the rise and spread of the Celts, from their arrival in the British Isles in about the eighth century BC to the gradual transformation of their culture, initially under the Romans and later the Saxons.

Despite their great influence in prehistoric Europe, the knowledge and teaching of the druids was never committed to writing and so their prestige steadily declined. This study seeks to classify the evidence afresh and to place the druids in their historical setting.

There can be no doubt that the druids were the most enlightened and civilising spiritual influence in prehistoric Europe, as one of the three intellectual classes of the early Celtic peoples. However, neither their knowledge nor their teaching were committed to writing so that in the course of centuries their prestige declined before the general spread of Mediterranean culture. Accordingly most of our information is derived from late and hostile sources. This book is an attempt to classify the evidence afresh and to place the druids in their historical setting. This classic study by one of the great names of Celtic scholarship, is re-issued with a new introduction by Dr Anne Ross, and a map of the main druidic sites in Continental Europe and the British Isles is included.