Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings.   Today’s blog post is a review of The Book of Melusine of Lusignan: in History, Legend, and Romance edited (with translations) by Gareth Knight.    

This is the last book I had on my to-read list as a source for building my Melusine Online Class, which I hope to launch in just a couple of months!   I had wanted to read this one for some time now, and this proved to be the ideal reason to read it.   Of course, I have read many books and academic papers on Melusine long before I took on the task of building a class all about her, but I did want to round out my knowledge by re-reading the Jean d’Arras book and reading this tome by Gareth Knight. 

Now that I have covered some background as to why I read this book now, onto the review of The Book of Melusine of Lusignan.   This book begins with a short introduction and then two short versions of the Melusine legend, based on the Couldrette verse version of the story.   Then, Gareth Knight has shared his translation of a long and very in-depth essay by Louis Stouff,  originally published by the University of Dijon in 1930.    After that, there are some translations about the town, castle, and church of Lusignan.   Finally, the book ends with two essays by Gareth Knight which add further historical and Faerylore analysis to the earlier translated essay!

I want to begin by stating that I love Gareth Knight’s work in Arthurian, Avalonian, and Faerylore, and in particular he has written and translated several works about Melusine!   That makes his books an excellent source for those seeking a great academic and research-based book about this magnificent Faery Queen.   It is also very nice to have the sources translated to English from the original French, as that makes it more accessible.   As someone who does read French, I would love to read these sources in their original French, but they are often difficult to come by.   That makes Gareth Knight’s publishing of these translations good, even for those of us who can read the original French!

The actual content of the book is fascinating and makes for a much quicker read than the Jean d’Arras version.   The two shorter versions of the legend, based on the Couldrette, are much more succinct in telling the tale, with a less prominent focus on descriptions of Battles during the Quests and Crusades.   So, I would say that this book is a bit more accessible for those who are not accustomed to reading medieval legends!   The essays are very intriguing, and definitely give a lot of food for thought about how history and legend entwine with Melusine’s tale.   

So, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Melusine from a historical and literary perspective and wants to get some of the magickal point of view (as it is touched upon in Knight’s own essays at the end).   I am so glad that I finally read this book and that I can recommend it to my students when I launch my Melusine Class.

I hope you have enjoyed this short review of The Book of Melusine of Lusignan.   Have you read this book?   Are you interested in reading it?   Are you interested in learning about Melusine and her Faery Queen Magick from me?   Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a photo of my copy of the book! 

LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries

Further Reading

• The Book of Melusine of Lusignan: in History, Legend, and Romance edited (with translations) by Gareth Knight