 | |
| Author | Melvyn Bragg |
|---|---|
| Genre | Historical fiction |
| Published | 1996 |
| Publisher | Sceptre |
| Pages | 800 |
| ISBN | 9-780-34066706-4 |
Credo: An Epic Tale of the Dark Ages is a historical fiction novel written by Melvyn Bragg and published in 1996. Bragg's sixteenth novel, it is set in the Celtic Christianity of seventh-century Britain. [1]
Credo was published in the United States with the title The Sword and the Miracle. [2]
Credo's protagonist is a young Celtic princess, the semi-mythical St Bega. Bega and the fictional Prince Padric desire to marry against her father's wishes, and she vows celibacy to avoid an arranged marriage with a warrior. Bega founds a nunnery, while Padric fights the Saxons. Bega reflects on religious conscience and duty while Padric fights his arch-villain, Ecfrith. [1]
The story features venerated figures of the period, notably saints Cuthbert, Wilfrid, and Hilda, and features the Synod of Whitby. [1]
In a negative review for The Independent , Hugo Barnacle called Credo "a very hard slog". Barnacle criticised the book's difficult language, which included anachronisms, "occasional lapses in sentence construction", and "leadenness of the style". He accused Bragg of "fall[ing] into an ungainly pomposity" by "misguidedly trying to do posh prose". [1]
The Sword in the Stone is a 1938 novel by British writer T. H. White. First published by Collins in the United Kingdom as a stand-alone work, it later became the first part of a tetralogy, The Once and Future King. A fantasy of the boyhood of King Arthur, it is a sui generis work which combines elements of legend, history, fantasy, and comedy. Walt Disney Productions adapted the story to an animated film, and the BBC adapted it to radio.
Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, is an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian. He is the editor and presenter of The South Bank Show, and the presenter of the BBC Radio 4 documentary series In Our Time.
The South Bank Show is a British television arts magazine series originally produced by London Weekend Television and broadcast on ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new version of the series began 27 May 2012 on Sky Arts. Conceived, written, and presented by former BBC arts broadcaster Melvyn Bragg, the show aims to bring both high art and popular culture to a mass audience. In 2023, it was announced that Bragg would be leaving the series after 45 years.
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Hilda of Whitby was a saint of the early Church in Britain. She was the founder and first abbess of the monastery at Whitby which was chosen as the venue for the Synod of Whitby in 664. An important figure in the Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England, she was abbess in several convents and recognised for the wisdom that drew kings to her for advice.
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Bega is a medieval Irish saint of Northumbria, venerated primarily in the town of St Bees. According to her Life, she was an Irish princess who fled to Northumbria to escape an arranged marriage to a Viking prince. She became an anchoress and was renowned for her piety. Multiple churches have been dedicated to her in England, and her feast day is still celebrated in St Bees.
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