We are pleased to announce that the 37th lecture of our online series will be given by Ethan Doyle White (London, UK) on Friday, 3rd of October, 2025 at 17:00 Central European Time (CET). His talk is titled From Woden Incarnate to Son of Herne: On the Changing Role of Paganism in Robin Hood Narratives.
Please find the abstract, the speaker’s short bio and link (with password) to the zoom meeting below and on the attached poster.
Topic: 37th BNN online lecture by Ethan Doyle White
Time: Friday, October 3, 2025, 17:00 Central European Time (CET)
Join Zoom Meeting: https://usc.zoom.us/j/94400850234?pwd=4Jsd1cASwSD9dx5YTin8YIHWsEEGHw.1
Meeting ID: 944 0085 0234
Passcode: 553365
We will open the Zoom session ten minutes in advance; do come in and say hello. Please keep in mind that it helps if you use your name as the Zoom handle (rather than an abbreviation or alias, etc). Thank you!
Please pay attention to the time-zone related time difference and that it is Central European Time (CET). For your local time please check: https://www.timeanddate.com/time/zones/cet
We would like to thank our colleague Tok Thompson and the Department of Anthropology of the University of South California for their technical support.
Abstract
Today, Robin Hood, the legendary outlaw of medieval England, is an internationally recognised icon. While some acknowledge Hood as a fictional character cooked up in the fourteenth century, and others insist on his existence as a historical personage, a third explanation has long maintained that the outlaw is in fact an ancient figure in some way linked to the pre-Christian religions of Britain. This approach, as most folklorists and historians will recognise, owes much to the so-called “pagan survivals” or “doctrine of survivals” framework that was once so pervasive throughout British and broader European scholarship. In this talk, we will explore the historical genealogy of this “pagan Hood” idea, from its origins in nineteenth and early twentieth-century theories about Woden, Müllerian solar mythologies, and Frazerian agricultural sacrifices, right through to contemporary fantasy fiction. Along the way, we will consider the complex synergies and interactions that have long existed between the arguments of scholars, the new religions of modern Pagans, and the imaginative efforts of those producing popular culture.
Speaker’s short bio
Ethan Doyle White teaches at City Lit, London and is a visiting lecturer in folklore at the University of Hertfordshire. He received his PhD from University College London (UCL) in 2019 and has particular research interests in supernatural lore, modern Paganism, and the religions of early medieval England. His publications include Wicca: History, Belief, and Community in Modern Pagan Witchcraft (Sussex Academic Press, 2016), The New Witches of the West: Tradition, Liberation, and Power (Cambridge University Press, 2024), and Pale Hecate’s Offerings: Witchcraft in British Film and Television (Strange Attractor, forthcoming). He is also the co-editor of both Magic and Witchery in the Modern West (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) and Modern Religious Druidry (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024).
Flyer_BNN online lecture_3 Oct 2025_Doyle White
You can check the schedule of the BNN online lectures in the coming months (Nov, Dec) of 2025 at the ISFNR BNN website here: https://isfnr.org/online-lectures/ You are welcome to share the invitation and the poster with your colleagues, students, and on social media.