Charles Godfrey Leland (August 15 1824 –
March 20 1903) was an American humorist and folklorist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and educated at Princeton University, and in
Europe. Leland worked in journalism, travelled extensively, and became interested in folklore and folk linguistics, publishing books and articles on American and European languages and folk traditions. By the
end of his life shortly after the turn of the century, Leland had worked in a wide variety of trades, achieved recognition as an
author of the comedic Hans Breitmann Ballads, fought in two conflicts, and had written what was to become a primary source
text for Neopaganism half a century later, Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches.
Life
Leland was born to Charles Leland, a commission merchant, and Charlotte Godfrey August 15
1824 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Shortly after his birth, Leland's nurse took the child to the family attic and performed a
ritual on him involving a Bible, a key, a knife, lighted candles, money and salt to ensure a long life as a "scholar and a
wizard", a fact which Leland's biographers have commented upon as foreshadowing his interest in folk traditions and
magic.[1]
Charles Godfrey Leland's early education was in the United States, and he attended college at Princeton University. During his schooling, Leland studied languages, wrote poetry, and pursued a
variety of other interests, including hermeticism, Neo-Platonism, and the writings of Rabelais and Villon.[2] After
college, Leland continued his studies in Heidelberg and Munich. In 1848 Leland attended the Sorbonne, and was involved in the
Revolutions of 1848 in France, fighting at consructed barricades against
the King's soldiers as a captain in the revolution.[3]
Leland returned to America after the money given to him by his father for travel had run out, and passed the bar in
Pennsylvania. Instead of practicing law, he instead began a career in journalism. As a journalist, Leland wrote for
The Illustrated News in New York, the Evening
Bulletin in Philadelphia and eventually took on editorial duties for Graham's
Magazine, and the Philadelphia Press. In 1856 Leland married Eliza
Bella "Isabel" Fisher.[3]
Leland was also an editor for the Continental Monthly, a pro-Union Army publication. He enlisted in the Union Army in 1863, and fought at the Battle of Gettysburg. Leland coined the term "emancipation" as an alternative to "abolition" to refer to the anti-slavery position.[3]
Leland returned to Europe in 1869, and travelled widely, eventually settling in London. In his travels, he made a study of the Gypsies, on
whom he wrote more than one book. Leland began to publish a number of books on ethnography,
folklore and language. His fame during his lifetime rested chiefly on his comic Hans Breitmann Ballads (1871), written in
a combination of broken English and German
(not to be confused, as it often has been, with Pennsylvania
German).[4] His writings on
Algonquian and gypsy culture were part of the contemporary interest in
pagan and Aryan traditions. He erroneously claimed to have
discovered 'the fifth Celtic tongue': the form of Cant, spoken among Irish Travellers. He named it Shelta. Leland became president
of the English Gypsy-Lore Society in 1888. Eleven years later Godfrey produced
Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, reportedly containing
the traditional beliefs of Italian witchcraft as conveyed to Leland in a manuscript provided by a woman named Maddalena, who
Leland refers to as his "witch informant."[5]
Influence
In more recent times his writings on pagan and Aryan traditions have eclipsed the now largely forgotten Breitmann ballads,
influencing the development of Wicca and modern Neo-paganism.
The most influential of these books is Aradia, or the Gospel of the
Witches. Aradia's accuracy has been disputed,[6] and used by others as a study of witch lore in 19th century Italy.[7]
Leland was also an important influence on the Arts and Crafts movement. He
had established a school to teach crafts to disadvantaged children in Philadelphia, which became widely known when it was praised
by Oscar Wilde. Wilde later wrote to Leland he would be "recognised and honoured as one of
the great pioneers and leaders of the art of the future."[8] The Home Arts and Industries
Association was founded in imitation of this initiative.[9]
Select bibliography
Title page of the original edition of
Aradia.
Leland's comical Hans Breitmann Ballads were his biggest success as an author during his life, but most of his books
dealt with the traditions and languages of the peoples that he studied. He is best known today for Aradia, or the Gospel of
the Witches, one of his three books on Italian folk traditions.
- 1855: Meister Karl's Sketch-book
- 1864: Legends of Birds
- 1871: Hans Breitmann Ballads
- 1872: Pidgin-English Sing-Song
- 1873: The English Gipsies
- 1879: Johnnykin and the Goblins
- 1882: The Gypsies
- 1884: Algonquin Legends
- 1891: Gyspsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling
- 1892: The Hundred Riddles of the Fairy Bellaria
- 1892: Etruscan Roman Remains in Popular Tradition
- 1896: Legends of Florence Collected from the People (2 vols.)
- 1899: Unpublished Legends of Virgil
- 1899: Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches
- 1899: Have You a Strong Will?
- 1901: Legends of Virgil
- 1902: Flaxius, or Leaves from the Life of an Immortal
- Unknown date: Leather Work, A Practical Manual for Learners by Charles G. Leland, late director of the Public
Industrial Art School of Philadelphia, with many illustrations and original designs by the author. 3rd edition published 1925,
Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd.
Further reading
- Varesano, A.M.J. (1979). Charles Godfrey Leland: The Eclectic Folklorist,
Ph.D Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.
- Parkhill, Thomas (1997). Weaving Ourselves into the Land: Charles Godfrey
Leland, "Indians" and the Study of Native American Religions. State University of New York Press.
- Di Fazio, Massimiliano (2003). "Un esploratore di subculture: Charles Godfrey
Leland", in "Archaeologiae" 2,1.
Notes and references
Wikisource has original works written by or about:
- ^ Pennell, Elizabeth Robbins (1906). Charles Godfrey Leland: a Biography. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin
and Co..
cited in Mathiesen,
Robert (1998). "Charles G. Leland and the Witches of Italy: The Origin of Aradia", in Mario Pazzaglini: Aradia, or the
Gospel of the Witches, A New Translation. Blaine, Washington: Phoenix Publishing, Inc., 25. ISBN
0-919345-34-4.
- ^ Mathiesen, Robert (1998). "Charles G. Leland and the Witches of Italy:
The Origin of Aradia", in Mario Pazzaglini: Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, A New Translation. Blaine, Washington:
Phoenix Publishing, Inc., 25-57. ISBN 0-919345-34-4.
- ^ a b c Farrar, Stewart (1998). "Foreword",
in Mario Pazzaglini: Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, A New Translation. Blaine, Washington: Phoenix Publishing,
Inc., 13-21. ISBN 0-919345-34-4.
- ^ W. P. Trent,
J. Erskine, S. P. Sherman & C. Van Doren (Eds.) (1907). Cambridge History of English and American Literature, Vol. XVIII Part III. Cambridge
University. 1-58734-073-9.
- ^ Leland,
Charles Godfrey (1899). Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches. David Nutt.
See Leland's description in the appendix.
- ^ See Russell, Jeffrey (1982). A
History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics and Pagans. Thames and Hudson, pp. 148-53. ISBN 0-19-820744-1.
and especially Hutton,
Ronald (2000). Triumph of the Moon. Oxford University Press, p. 148. ISBN 0-500-27242-5.
for a discussion of the dispute
- ^ Magliocco, Sabina (2002).
"Who Was Aradia?
The History and Development of a Legend". Pomegranate: The Journal of Pagan Studies, 18.
- ^ "I would have a workshop attached to every school...I have seen only one
such school in the United States, and the was in Philadelphia, and was founded by my friend Leland. I stopped there yesterday,
and have brought some of their work here to show you." Report of Wilde's New York lecture, Montreal Daily Witness, May 15,
1882. See also, Wilde, O, letter to Leland, May 1882, MS, Yale University, "When I showed them the brass work and the pretty bowl
of wood with the bright arabesques at New York they applauded to the echo, and I have received so many letters about it and
congratulations that your school will be known and honoured everywhere, and you yourself recognised and honoured as one of the
great pioneers and leaders of the art of the future."
- ^ Stansky, P., Redesigning the World, Princeton University Press,
1985, p. 106
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
