The Hermit Man of Guisbury
Book review: Wizards of Yesteryear, Andromeda Black, 2 Galleons and 6 Sickles
01-09-2021
Alexandra Sidhurst
'Seen through to yesterday, I did again
Not far was Arbeirea in my imagination
But for the distance in my neighbour's eyes
Where, I ask him, do I belong
If not here, in my own country?'
Some of the most haunting lines I have come across, are etched in the lost poem of Guisbury. Written by a monk or hermit in 12th century Lanarkshire, the few verses known to have survived, tell of the demise of the last remnants of the Northumbrian kingdom and its permanent absorption into Muggle Scotland.
The history of the followers of the Ravenclaw dynasty, one of whose more notable members, Rowena, was a founder of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, continues to entrance and sadden readers even today.
A people who had made a country, now strangers in their own land due to the Muggles in their midst. The Muggles drifted to their own beliefs, and a new country, Scotland, slowly took shape, around the clan of Scott, but where were the witches and wizards to go? The rise of the Bishops and the Kirk was the beginning of the end of Pagan Northumbria, yet its names and soul continued as if in strange mockery: the holyrood was no longer a magic wand but a bishop's crozier!
The Statute of Secrecy came as a welcome relief to many wizard communities like Northumbria. They could reject the present and continue as if their country was but temporarily veiled and waiting behind a screen.
The fragments of the poem of Guisbury, written on parchment that is disintegrating with the passage of time, have been treasured up for centuries, but they and the stories of Gabald the Good, the druid who advised union with Arthur's kingdom, are preserved in all their glory in this collection of old transcripts, some never published before, in Wizards of Yesteryear by Andromeda Black.
The foreword to the book mentions the author's traumatic experiences during You Know Who's reign of terror, including the deaths of both her Muggle husband and daughter, Ted and Nymphadora Tonks at the hands of Death Eaters. Nymphadora is survived by her son, Teddy Lupin, to whom the book is dedicated.
The collection is a fascinating reminder of the North's complex history, and the original material makes for interesting links. Both historical ones, and clearly, for the author, personal ones in the reading of the internecine struggles between wizards and Muggles. Would that it was inspired by happier times!