Myths and Legends of the Medieval World with Paul Watts
- 28 April 2026
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- 12 Min Read
Editorial Introduction
From Arthur and the Holy Grail to Robin Hood, the Witch of Wookey Hole, and the Norse gods of Ragnarök, the medieval world was alive with stories that blurred the line between faith, folklore, and lived experience. In his book Myths and Legends of the Medieval World, published by Pen & Sword History in 2024, historian Paul Watts sets out to strip away the layers of later invention and recover what these stories actually meant to the people who told and heard them. The result is a richly researched journey through saints and relics, magic and monsters, chivalric romance and folk tradition – always asking not just whether a story is true, but why it mattered.
We sat down with Paul Watts to talk about belief and scepticism in the Middle Ages, the stories that stayed with him during his research, and why folklore is never really finished being told.
The Interview
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Paul Watts: I don’t think there is a simple black and white answer to that. Some people probably believed some of the myths and legends they encountered. There were certainly people who seemed to have sincerely believed in various supernatural phenomena, such as ghosts or magic, just as there are today. However, there were also sceptics. Geoffrey of Monmouth’s stories of King Arthur were dismissed as total fiction by at least one writer within a few short decades of his death. No doubt there were others living in medieval times who believed there was at least some truth in Arthurian tales.
Myths, religious tales and stories in general were often conveyed to a largely illiterate society in the form of performance rather than the written word. Very few people could read, and even fewer possessed any books. As a result, stories of all kinds usually took the form of minstrels’ ballads, rhyme recitals and simple plays.
This was entertainment, for sure. But entertainment and belief are not mutually incompatible. Such performances were certainly designed to be entertaining spectacles that could attract a crowd. But many (especially religious plays) were nevertheless also designed to educate. They often engaged with myths, including myths concerning the saints, in the same way. If you could not read, how would you necessarily differentiate between the tales of saintly miracles and stories from the Bible itself? Would you have necessarily known that the story of Saint George and the Dragon did not come from the Bible? And how would you have known that your herbal pain remedy worked because it contained willow bark (salicin) rather than because of the spell you cast over it?
Paul Watts: One of the stories that has most intrigued me is the story of the Witch of Wookey Hole. Today, if you were to Google the story, you’d probably come across a tale of an evil medieval witch who once made her lair in these caves. The story goes that she was confronted by a holy man who sprinkled her with holy water and turned her to stone. If you go to Wookey Hole caves today, you’ll probably be pointed in the direction of a particular stalagmite and told this strange formation is traditionally believed to be the very witch herself.
There is one fascinating problem with this story, however. It is not a medieval story. It is an early modern story about the Middle Ages.
The thing is, the Wookey Hole caves were visited at the end of the Middle Ages by William of Worcester. At the time, he noted down all the superstitions and myths relating to Wookey Hole that were popular with the locals. There is no mention of a witch. Instead, we are told that the stalagmite concerned was regarded at the time as resembling the image of a woman busy at her spinning.
So, at some time in the 16th century, likely during the height of the European witch hunts, a story about a medieval witch, haunting the caves, made its first appearance. So, why was that? And what does that tell us about the changing mindset of the people who lived near the caves?
This, to my mind, is a great example of how studying changing mythic narratives raises important questions about shifting cultural attitudes and priorities for social and cultural historians.
All too often, when we consider folklore, we can fall into the trap of dwelling far too much on questions regarding whether a story is true and when it was first told. But by doing so, we often fail to consider the far more important questions: what did it mean to people, and why was it important?
Paul Watts: On the one hand, we have lost something — the original story and, just as importantly, what it originally meant to the people who told it in medieval times. We have lost the original context and, with it, the old meaning to a degree. It is good to revisit it, not only as a folklorist but also as an historian. These old tales, myths and folk beliefs do reflect the societies that engaged with them and therefore have much to tell us about the mindset of those societies. For any historian, that should be gold dust.
However, it is a fact that folklore changes and evolves over time. We are still telling stories about Robin Hood and King Arthur today, of course. And these stories still include elements, echoes if you will, of the old medieval tales. But they also contain adaptation and modification — re-imaginings over time. These alter and distort the original, but they also have the effect of reworking a myth to make it more engaging and relevant for the times. This is what ultimately keeps folklore alive. A truly authentic folk story is not some ancient original version of a story preserved like a fossil in aspic; it is a living, evolving dialogue between the people and the myth.
Paul Watts: This is, of course, very challenging. And sometimes we are faced with a situation where we simply lack a complete picture, and we just have to accept that. But, as with all history, context is key. We may be fortunate enough to possess a near-complete copy of a medieval story, and that’s great. But we also need to understand the context. Who told the story? Why did they record it? And for whom were they recording it? We can also look at other evidence, such as medieval art. We can also look at what other people wrote about a myth or story — we can often learn a lot from who was criticising or praising a myth and why.
We know that Robin Hood ballads were popular not from the profusion of surviving written records (only a handful survive from medieval times) but from other writers who report that they were indeed popular. The mere fact that a particular clergyman disapproved of tales of Robin Hood testifies to the fact that ordinary people were indeed engaging with these stories. If they had not been, then there would have been no reason for the criticism.
Reading a Robin Hood ballad is one thing. However, once you know that these stories were popular with common folk, it adds to our understanding of the tale. Likewise, knowing that versions of these stories were sometimes performed as plays, almost certainly outside in fine weather at summer games, adds something more. So too does knowing that there were clergy who strongly disapproved of them. So too does knowing that Robin was portrayed as an archer and that archery was widely practised amongst the medieval audience who heard his stories. Also, there is the fact that Robin was always portrayed as a yeoman and never as a noble. Considering what all that might have meant to people in the late Middle Ages, all this context adds up to provide us with a significant extra dimension to how we view these stories.
Paul Watts: There is a lot that survives from medieval times that is well worth exploring, but if I had to pick a couple of things, I would pick The Prose Edda and Chrétien de Troyes’ Arthurian Romances.
The Prose Edda was written in Iceland about a hundred years after the Viking Age came to an end. It is a key primary source for Norse mythology. It contains within it many of the old original stories of Norse gods and heroes. From it we get the Norse creation myth, descriptions of the gods and their powers, and tales of dwarves, elves and giants. It also contains a detailed account of the prophecy of the apocalyptic Norse end of days — the age of Ragnarok. Most of what we know of Norse mythology today comes from this one old collection. It is the inspiration behind Wagner’s Ring Cycle and Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings — in short, a true medieval classic. If you have never read it, you are truly missing out!
Chrétien de Troyes’ Arthurian Romances are not the oldest recorded Arthurian stories. He was writing at the end of the twelfth century, several decades after Geoffrey of Monmouth’s famous history elevated Arthur’s legend to the forefront of high medieval culture. But, of all the medieval Arthurian writers, Chrétien is, in my view, the best. His stories have proved amongst the most haunting and enduring of all Arthurian stories. It was Chrétien who first gave us the story of Lancelot’s and Guinevere’s adulterous love affair. Indeed, it was Chrétien who first mentioned Lancelot. He is also the first writer to ever mention the Holy Grail. His haunting tale of the Grail is all the more mysterious because he was unable to finish it, thus leaving its true meaning a mystery to this day.
About the Author
Paul Watts is the creator of the Medieval History blog, which explores various topics related to the history, folklore, and mythology of the medieval period. His fascination with history dates back to his involvement in historical re-enactment during the 1990s and early 2000s.
Professionally, Paul has worked in market research and publishing, but his true passion has always been history. Later in life, he pursued formal studies in history and religion through the Open University, taking courses in religion, classical Greece, and Roman history. After participating in online history communities and forums for years, he launched the Medieval History blog in early 2022.
Today, Paul regularly writes about medieval history, mythology, folklore, and supernatural beliefs on his website, www.medievalhistory.info. He resides in Cornwall, England, with his wife Alice and their two cats.
Book Discussed in This Interview
Myths and Legends of the Medieval World
by Paul Watts
In Myths and Legends of the Medieval World, historian and author Paul Watts peels away centuries of reinvention to recover what the great stories of the Middle Ages actually meant to the people who told and heard them. Drawing on a wide range of sources — from medieval ballads and religious plays to chronicles and folk traditions — the book explores how myths surrounding figures such as King Arthur, Robin Hood, and the Norse gods were experienced not as distant entertainment but as living, breathing narratives woven into the fabric of medieval life. Rather than presenting folklore as a fixed body of ancient tales, Watts reveals a dynamic, evolving tradition in which stories shifted with the times, reflecting changing beliefs, anxieties, and values – and, in doing so, illuminating the medieval mind in ways that conventional history rarely can.
Interview conducted by Luciano Anastasi for HistoryMedieval.
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Luciano Anastasi
Luciano is the founder of the MedievalHistory platform and the LinkedIn History Enthusiasts Group, where he is dedicated to curating and sharing high-quality medieval history content. His goal is to engage scholars, teachers, students, and enthusiasts by fostering insightful discussions and promoting scholarly resources on topics from medieval warfare and religion to societal transformations and daily life in the Middle Ages.
Luciano is also an active book reviewer, focusing on academic publications related to medieval history. He recently collaborated with Yale University Press to review forthcoming medieval history titles, aiming to deepen educators' and researchers' understanding of the period. Alongside his history endeavors, he has over 40 years of experience in IT leadership roles across various industries, including the public sector, banking, insurance, airlines and consulting, and has contributed to United Nations projects.
With a Master of Arts in Business Process Management, Luciano combines his expertise in IT strategy and governance with his passion for medieval history. He leverages technology to bridge the academic community and the wider public, making historical scholarship more accessible through engaging online content.
