Folklore as an Historical Science — Inside the Classic

(6 User reviews) 1465

In Category - Folklore

Authors: Gomme, George Laurence, 1853-1916 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2007 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Folklore Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 114,513

Reading time 498 min

Text sections 17

This digital edition of Folklore as an Historical Science — Inside the Classic is described by source-level measurements including 114,513 words, 8 hr 18 min estimated reading time, and 17 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 24.8 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Folklore,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #21852

Gomme's 1908 treatise argues that folklore, including tales, customs, and beliefs, can be analyzed as historical evidence. Drawing on examples from British local legends to Australian totemism, he proposes methods for extracting cultural history from traditional material, treating survivals as data for reconstructing past social and psychological conditions.

Editorial Edition Score 4.9/5

★★★★★ ★★★★★

Calculated from edition completeness, EPUB availability, text structure and catalogue metadata. Not a user rating.

How this score is calculated

Description quality20 pts
Title & short description10 pts
Source metadata20 pts
Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
EPUB file integrity20 pts

Total of 100 points, scaled to a 2.5-5.0 range. Editions with an empty description or a missing EPUB file are not scored.

Edition quality

File: pg21852

Read the Text

I. HISTORY AND FOLKLORE _pages_ 1-122

INTRODUCTORY _pages_ 1-13

HISTORY AND LOCAL AND PERSONAL TRADITIONS 13-46

HISTORY AND FOLK-TALES 46-84

TRADITIONAL LAW 84-100

MYTHOLOGY AND TRADITION 100-110

HISTORIANS AND TRADITION 110-120

II. MATERIALS AND METHODS 123-179

TRADITIONAL MATERIAL 123-129

MYTH, FOLK-TALE, AND LEGEND 129-153

CUSTOM, BELIEF, AND RITE 154-179

III. PSYCHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS 180-207

IV. ANTHROPOLOGICAL CONDITIONS 208-302

PRIMITIVE INFLUENCES 211-238

EARLIEST TYPES OF SOCIAL EXISTENCE 238-261

AUSTRALIAN TOTEM SOCIETY TESTED BY THE EVIDENCE 262-274

TOTEM SURVIVALS IN BRITAIN 274-296

SYNOPSIS OF CULTURE-STRUCTURE OF SEMANGS OF MALAY PENINSULA 297-302

V. SOCIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS 303-319

VI. EUROPEAN CONDITIONS 320-337

VII. ETHNOLOGICAL CONDITIONS 338-366

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE 1. PEDLAR'S SEAT, SWAFFHAM CHURCH, NORFOLK. _Frontispiece_

2. CARVED WOODEN FIGURE OF THE PEDLAR IN SWAFFHAM CHURCH 8

3. CARVED WOODEN FIGURE OF THE PEDLAR'S DOG IN SWAFFHAM CHURCH 8

Nos. 1-3 are taken from photographs, and show how the story of the Pedlar of Swaffham has been interpreted in carving. The costume of the Pedlar is noticeable.

4. THE PEDLAR OF LAMBETH AND HIS DOG, FIGURED IN THE WINDOW (NOW DESTROYED) OF LAMBETH CHURCH (from Allen's _History of Lambeth_) 20

5. THE PEDLAR OF LAMBETH AND HIS DOG AS DRAWN IN 1786 FOR DUCAREL'S _History of Lambeth_ 22

Nos. 4 and 5 illustrate the traces of the Pedlar legend in Lambeth, and the costume of the Pedlar, though later than that shown in the Swaffham carving, exhibits analogous features which are of interest to the argument.

6. PLAN OF THE SITE OF THE "HEAVEN'S WALLS" AT LITLINGTON, NEAR ROYSTON, CAMBRIDGESHIRE (reprinted from _Archæologia_) 43

7. SKETCH OF LITLINGTON FIELD (reprinted from _Archæologia_) 44

Nos. 6 and 7 show the site and general appearance of this interesting relic of the Roman occupation of Britain.

8. STONE MONUMENTS ERECTED AS MEMORIALS IN A KASYA VILLAGE (reprinted from _Asiatic Researches_) 55

9. STONE SEATS AT A KASYA VILLAGE (reprinted from _Asiatic Researches_) 55

10. VIEW IN THE KASYA HILLS, SHOWING STONE MEMORIALS (reprinted from _Asiatic Researches_) 56

No. 8 shows the practice among the primitive hill-tribes of India of erecting memorials in stone to tribal heroes, and No. 9 is a curious illustration of the stones used as seats by tribesmen at their tribal assemblies. No. 10 is a general view of the site occupied by these stone monuments.

11. THE AULD CA-KNOWE: CALLING THE BURGESS ROLL AT HAWICK (reprinted from Craig and Laing's _Hawick Tradition_) 98

12. THE HAWICK MOAT AT SUNRISE (reprinted from Craig and Laing) 99

The tribal gathering is well illustrated by No. 11, and the moat hill is shown in No. 12.

13. ONE OF FIVE STONE CIRCLES IN THE FIELDS OPPOSITE THE GLEBE OF NYMPHSFIELD (reprinted from Sir William Wilde's _Lough Corrib_) 101

14. CARN-AN-CHLUITHE TO COMMEMORATE THE DEFEAT AND DEATH OF THE YOUTHS OF THE DANANNS (reprinted from Wilde) 102

15. THE CAIRN OF BALLYMAGIBBON, NEAR THE ROAD PASSING FROM CONG TO CROSS (reprinted from Wilde) 102

Nos. 13-15 are selected from Sir William Wilde's admirable account of the great conflict on the field of Moytura. They serve to show that the fight was an historical event.

16. ALTAR DEDICATED TO THE FIELD DEITIES OF BRITAIN, FOUND AT CASTLE HILL ON THE WALL OF ANTONINUS PIUS 105

It is important to remember that the Romans recognised the gods of the conquered people, and this is one of the most important archæological proofs of the fact.

17. ROMAN SCULPTURED STONE FOUND AT ARNIEBOG, CUMBERNAULD, DUMBARTONSHIRE, SHOWING A NAKED BRITON AS A CAPTIVE 112

To the evidence derived from classical writers as to the nakedness of some of the inhabitants of early Britain, it is possible to add the evidence of the memorial stone. This example is reproduced from Sir Arthur Mitchell's _Past in the Present_, and there is at least one other example.

18. REPRESENTATION OF AN IRISH CHIEFTAIN SEATED AT DINNER (from Derrick's _The Image of Ireland_, by kind permission of Messrs. A. & E. Black) 183

This is reproduced from the very excellent reprint (1883) of this remarkable book, published originally in 1581. The whole book is historically valuable as showing the undeveloped nature of Irish culture. The flesh was boiled in the hide, the fire is lighted in the open camp, and the entire rudeness of the scene depicts the people "whose usages I behelde after the fashion there sette downe."

19. LONG MEG AND HER DAUGHTERS (from a photograph by Messrs. Frith) 193

20. STONE CIRCLES ON STANTON MOOR (from _Archæologia_) 193

Nos. 19 and 20 are illustrations of two of the lesser-known circles about which the people hold such curious beliefs.

21. CHINESE REPRESENTATION OF PYGMIES GOING ABOUT ARM-IN-ARM FOR MUTUAL PROTECTION (from Moseley's _Notes by a Naturalist on H.M.S. Challenger_, by permission of Mr. John Murray) 242

22. SEMANG OF KUALA KENERING, ULU PERAK (from Skeat and Blagden's _Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula_, by permission of Messrs. Macmillan) 242

23. NEGRITO TYPE: SEMANG OF PERAK (from the same) 243

24. SEMANG OF KEDAH HAVING A MEAL (from the same) 244

25. TREE HUT, ULU BATU, ABOUT TWELVE MILES FROM KUALA LUMPUR, SELANGOR (from the same) 298

Continue Reading →

George Laurence Gomme opens Folklore as an Historical Science (1908) by insisting that folklore is not merely a collection of quaint survivals but a body of evidence amenable to scientific historical method. The book’s table of contents reveals an ambitious architecture: chapters move from defining the relationship between history and tradition, through materials and methods, to psychological, anthropological, sociological, European, and ethnological conditions. Gomme does not offer a general survey of folklore; he builds a case for treating folk-tales, customs, and beliefs as primary sources for reconstructing past stages of culture.

Evidence from a Seventeenth-Century Pagan

One of Gomme’s most striking exhibits is a passage from a 1659 sermon by the Reverend Mr. Pemble, describing an old man on his deathbed who, when asked about his faith, replied that God was “a good old man,” Christ “a towardly youth,” his soul “a great bone in his body,” and that after death he would be “put into a pleasant green meadow.” Gomme treats this not as mere ignorance but as evidence of a non-Christian belief system persisting in England. He notes that the soul-as-bone idea matches savage conceptions, citing the New Zealanders’ belief that the soul resides in the spinal marrow. The “pleasant green meadow” he links to Hesiod’s description of an agricultural paradise, contrasting it with the warrior’s view expressed by the Saxon thane of King Eadwine. Gomme’s method here is to isolate positive beliefs from negative ones and to trace them to primitive roots, demonstrating how a single anecdote can reveal layers of cultural history.

Totem Survivals in Britain

Gomme devotes a substantial section to testing Australian totem society against the evidence and then searching for totem survivals in Britain. He examines customs such as the veneration of certain animals, taboos, and clan structures, arguing that traces of totemism can be detected in British folk practices. For instance, he discusses the “Pedlar’s Seat” at Swaffham Church, illustrated with photographs of carved wooden figures, and compares it to the Lambeth pedlar legend, noting costume details as evidence of continuity. Gomme’s approach is comparative: he uses ethnographic data from Australia, the Malay Peninsula, and India to interpret British material. The inclusion of illustrations—stone monuments from the Kasya hills, plans of Roman sites, and moat hills—shows his reliance on material culture alongside textual sources. He treats each survival as a fragment of a lost social system, reconstructing it through careful analogy.

Traditional Law and the Limits of Inference

In the chapter “Traditional Law,” Gomme explores how legal customs preserved in folklore can illuminate early forms of governance. He cites examples such as the calling of the Burgess Roll at Hawick, illustrated by “The Auld Ca-knowe,” and the Hawick Moat. Gomme argues that these ceremonies encode ancient tribal assemblies and land rights. However, he is cautious about over-interpretation: he notes that the evidence is often fragmentary and that the same custom may have different origins. The book’s structure—moving from history to folklore, then to psychological and anthropological conditions—reflects Gomme’s attempt to build a rigorous methodology. Yet the excerpts show that his evidence is uneven: some chapters rely heavily on a few examples, and the leap from Australian totemism to British customs is asserted rather than proven. Readers should note that Gomme’s conclusions are often speculative, grounded in the evolutionary anthropology of his time.

Methodological Framework and Its Sources

Gomme’s first chapter, “History and Folklore,” sets out his core argument: that folklore contains historical data that written records omit. He distinguishes between local traditions, folk-tales, mythology, and custom, proposing that each requires a different analytical lens. His sources range from classical authors like Hesiod to contemporary ethnographic reports. The book’s extensive footnotes reference works on Australian aborigines, Indian hill tribes, and European peasant customs. Gomme is particularly interested in survivals—practices that persist after their original meaning is lost. He treats these as fossils of earlier cultural stages, analogous to geological strata. This framework, while influential, reflects the assumptions of late Victorian anthropology, including a unilinear model of social evolution. Modern readers may question the direct equation of contemporary “savage” societies with prehistoric European ones, but Gomme’s systematic approach to folklore as evidence remains a landmark.

Gomme’s book is best approached as a period piece of early twentieth-century scholarship, ambitious in scope but uneven in execution. Readers interested in the history of folklore studies will find a detailed attempt to legitimize the field as a science. Those seeking a guide to specific British customs will encounter rich examples, though the theoretical apparatus may feel dated. The excerpts reveal a writer who is both meticulous and speculative, and the book rewards selective reading of its case studies.

That afternoon, the rain blurred my window while Gomme traced how a forgotten custom survives in a child’s rhyme—proof, he insisted, of vanished worlds. I set him down, reached for something lighter, and found Busy Brownies — A Closer Reading. Its little household sprites felt oddly alive, as if old folklore had simply tucked itself into a warmer story.