The House of the Wolfings by William Morris

(4 User reviews)   503
Morris, William, 1834-1896 Morris, William, 1834-1896
English
Imagine your favorite fantasy epic, but written over a century before Tolkien put pen to paper. That's 'The House of the Wolfings' by William Morris. It’s a story about a Germanic tribe facing down the relentless advance of the Roman Empire. The real tension isn't just about swords and shields, though. It’s about Thiodolf, their chosen war-chief, who carries a secret burden—a magical, cursed mail-shirt that might save his people or utterly destroy him. It’s a raw, foundational myth about community, sacrifice, and the heavy price of freedom, told with a rhythm that feels like listening to an ancient saga by firelight.
Share

Read "The House of the Wolfings by William Morris" Online

This book is available in the public domain. Start reading the digital edition below.

START READING FULL BOOK
Instant Access    Mobile Friendly

Book Preview

A short preview of the book’s content is shown below to give you an idea of its style and themes.

wars, and is the subject of current papers and a critical edition by I. F. Clarke in Britain. Robida is forgotten (or was never known) in America, but in France he is remembered. His sketches and caricatures, particularly of humorous and satirical visions of what lay in the future, were decades ahead of their time. Disney adopted some of his drawings as backgrounds for their views of the future at a pavilion at Epcot, and web sites attempt today to bring some of his best work back into circulation. If Robida is mostly forgotten, Uzanne can be truly said to have vanished from the cultural consciousness of the world. Yet he was well known as a writer and critic of his day, and some of his works command high prices from rare-book dealers. One presumes that much of his work was more bound to the circumstances of the current day than were the drawings of Robida, whose art has a certain timelessness to it (even where it graphically predicts a future that demonstrably did not happen). What follows is one of the pieces from _Contes_. Writing and drawing in 1894, Uzanne and Robida give us predictions of a post-literate society. Music and speech are everywhere! Newspapers are forgotten, and news presenters are valued for their emotional tone instead of the accuracy of their reporting. Recordings combined with cinema present costumed drama and humor in the home. (This is 1894, remember; Edison had truly just begun to produce his films.) Printed books are over and done with! They are no longer needed. As some companies _Hidden Knowledge_, for example) begin to create electronic books that will never be published in printed form, we need to remember... it was all predicted more than a hundred years ago. [Illustration] Notes on the re-creation of "The End of Books" The original drawings in the collection _Contes pour les Bibliophiles_ were scanned as black-and-white drawings at 600 dpi, and cleaned up in Photoshop. The drawings were extracted and processed individually to reduce their file size and improve their visual presentation on computer screens. The text was run through Textbridge 9, which did a surprisingly good job at OCR. The HTML layout merges the recovered text and the processed images back together again, and is designed to approximate that of the original. It is impossible to imitate it exactly, for all browser configurations, in HTML. You can do it in PDF; we looked at conversion to PDF but decided to keep things simple. One hopes also that future XML layout tools will provide this capability. The original is in French, and providing a proper translation is outside the scope of this project. I wrote a summary in English for those us of who do not have the French language. Or see the "Scribner's Magazine" references below. I have no idea what was originally written as the last word in the caption of the drawing of Public Domain Archive and the devil. It appears to have been scratched off the printing plate. _Contes pour les Bibliophiles_ was noted in "The Century Magazine" (May, 1895, page 354 ff.) in a review section on "Books in Paper Covers." I say noted; but actually, only the cover was reviewed. The cover was reproduced in a photoengraving in "Century" and its artistic values were denigrated; the contents apparently remained unread. Perhaps they were unhappy because Uzanne ocasionally appeared in English in "Scribner's Magazine", which competed fiercely with "Century". The story itself appeared in a clumsy English translation in "Scribner's", Vol. 16 (1894), pp 221-231, with illustrations by Robida — some the...

This is a limited preview. Download the book to read the full content.

If you love the feel of epic fantasy but crave something that feels like a discovered history, William Morris's The House of the Wolfings is your next great adventure.

The Story

The Wolfings are a tribe living in the great forest of Mirkwood, part of a larger Gothic people called the Markmen. Their peaceful life is shattered when news comes of the Roman legions marching north to conquer them. Thiodolf, a beloved and brave leader, is chosen as the War Duke to unite the scattered tribes against this overwhelming force. But he carries a secret: a wondrous coat of mail, given by the Wood-Sun, a woman of the mysterious elf-like Woodland Folk. This armor makes him nearly invincible, but it comes with a terrible spiritual cost that threatens to sever his connection to his own people and his humanity at the very moment they need him most.

Why You Should Read It

Reading this book is like uncovering a source code for modern fantasy. You can see the direct DNA here that influenced everyone from Tolkien to countless saga-writers. But it's not just a history lesson. Morris writes in a bold, rhythmic prose that mimics old poetry. It takes a page or two to get into the flow, but once you do, it pulls you into its world completely. The heart of the story is Thiodolf's impossible choice: use the magical power that could save his people but lose his soul, or lead them as a mortal man against impossible odds. It’s about what holds a community together when everything is on the line.

Final Verdict

This book is perfect for readers who love deep historical immersion and the mythic feel of old legends. If you enjoy the solemn weight of Beowulf, the communal spirit of The Lord of the Rings, or stories about the clash between ancient ways and encroaching empires, you'll find a lot to love here. Just be ready for a unique writing style—it’s not a breezy modern novel, but a powerful, chanted epic that rewards your attention.



🏛️ Copyright Status

There are no legal restrictions on this material. You do not need permission to reproduce this work.

Steven Sanchez
2 weeks ago

Simply put, the content remains relevant throughout without filler. A solid resource I will return to often.

Sarah Moore
4 months ago

From a technical perspective, the technical accuracy of the content is spot on. One of the best books I've read this year.

Mason Martin
2 months ago

From start to finish, the structure supports both quick reading and deep study. This book will stay with me for a long time.

Melissa Sanchez
1 month ago

I picked this up late one night and the progression of ideas feels natural and coherent. I’ll definitely revisit this in the future.

4
4 out of 5 (4 User reviews )

Add a Review

Your Rating *
There are no comments for this eBook.
You must log in to post a comment.
Log in

Related eBooks