Dragons: A History - Ronald Hutton

[@johnnzboy]

Professor Hutton is unable to give an unengaging lecture. What a treat that these lectures are free to watch!

[@BlastinRope]

I understand you are an english learner, but please avoid double negatives in the future, thanks!

[@Marychelle]

@@BlastinRopePrickish reply

[@lmurashchik]

​@@BlastinRope Boooo. Hisss

[@davideddy2672]

Watching paint dry …

[@tjbooker8585]

​@@BlastinRope luckily I'm fluent in mongo, so I could read your comment perfectly 🎉

[@CKNate1]

This guy is a treasure. Thanks for this terrific presentation.

[@draconity]

I would love an entire lecture series on dragons and dragon myths. Just a comprehensive dive into this stuff. I want to know absolutely everything he knows. It's so hard to find that information.

[@dawnagamble1549]

Roger Spurr👌

[@AlexGrey-py1tr]

You could read a bit of Friedrich von Schiller about the origins of mythology or why we need it, but it would be maybe a big dive (don't know how old you are) cheers ✌️

[@KusakaMusō]

You do know rabbit holes exist right? A simple search, leading to a deep dive by watching sources suggested by some of the video's comments, and searching for yourself seem hard to do?

[@talanigreywolf7110]

Not so much as reverence but cautious respect for Coyote the trickster. Apache here and taught by my Grandfather. Ya'ta'hay!

[@xiiinosceteipsum]

13 in the Medicine cards ❤

[@AshleyJones-nu3jq]

Dragons are real. The petrified bodies are visible on Google earth. There are many of them worldwide. They are very easy to identify, thanks to the scaley dragon throat of Typhon and the glorious feathers of Quetzalcoatl the feathered Serpent Dragon.

[@Crossword131]

I have cautious respect for William KnifeMan.

[@TomFynn]

"Noble dragons don't have friends. The nearest they can get to the idea is an enemy who is still alive." - Terry Pratchett, "Guards, Guards"

[@Inquisitor_Vex]

May the gods keep him. 🙏

[@weegiewarbler]

GNU STP

[@lindasmith6202]

I wish I could have had this gentleman as a college prof. I could listen to him all day!

[@brandontaylor8762]

I was surprised you didn't mention Tiamat when talking about Leviathan

[@davidchurch3472]

Ivor the Engine's dragon was very nice and friendly! He was Welsh.

[@mikosapps2476]

There's lovely 🐲

[@guillemclapes5587]

Thank you very much! Always enjoy Professor Hutton’s lectures

[@MelissaThompson432]

I thoroughly enjoy Prof. Hutton's lectures, interviews, cozy chats, whatever.

[@Namaerica]

Thank you so much Professor Hutton. Your knowledge is wide and deep…like the habitation of some dragons. The presentation is amusing and riveting.

[@ericagerrard2099]

Whoop Whoop ❤ very happy that the algorithm recommended this channel. I always loved Hutton’s contributions to documentaries I’ve watched. He has a wonderfully soft but engaging manner. Full of humanity and humor. Instant subscription ❤ I’ll be watching the entire series … just for starters 😁

[@nickoforesta5788]

This was fantastic. Best hour I've spent on youtube in a number of years. Thank you Gresham College and the incredible Professor Hutton.

[@MelissaThompson432]

To be fair, Pernese dragons are specifically NOT Earth dragons. To give Ms. McCaffery proper credit....

[@suzettehenderson9278]

And bio-engineered to be helpful.

[@emmersthepony5574]

Also he swapped her info on accident, She was an American author who moved to Ireland not the other way round. Lol

[@GlassEyedDetectives]

Another wonderful talk from Professor Hutton, thank you. i love his delivery and the topics he presents to hopefully a wide audience. Along with all the possible cultural connections he puts forth around Dragon-Lore, i also think that the amygdala or R-Complex within most sophisticated animals, including us- humans, is the core element that then generates all the behavioral characteristics we recognize as 'reptilian'., for example; Alligators, as far as reptiles go, are excellent mothers to their own offspring yet nightmares to everybody else's.....sound familiar anyone?

[@imzadiwhite4778]

You missed the Welsh dragons. Which is one of the few Western dragons that fulfills a protective role.

[@rodderz5615]

Lovely represents the Celts. And white dragon the Saxons.

[@NevisYsbryd]

More of a complex one. The entire reason the red and white dragons were sealed away in the first place is the mass damage they were inflicting on the local environment.

[@DamBrooks]

@@rodderz5615St. Edmond’s white dragon 🐉

[@jimpalmer2981]

I just discovered Ronald Hutton the other day and boy, am I glad to have done so. He's a treasure--a storehouse of wonderful information and a terrific presenter, too. I love him.

[@JacqTracks]

Thank you so much! I always enjoy Professor Hutton's lectures.

[@WaterandDustWalking]

This was tremendous fun! I think the cryptozoologist's theory about dragons with hydrochloric acid in their stomachs, therefore being prone to exploding, may have been borrowed by Terry Pratchett for his Discworld dragons.

[@BaldingClamydia]

My husband was wanting to know what to get me for Christmas this past year (off my book list), so I asked for Discworld. I was finally going to get started on it when I realized he got me a book called The Science of Discworld >.< lol he tried

[@AdmiralWinfrey]

​@@BaldingClamydiaBless, that's really adorable. I hope you've gotten the right book since then.

[@BaldingClamydia]

@AdmiralWinfrey not yet, but I will! I just got done with Priory of the Orange Tree, and just started the sequel to that

[@KonguZya]

I will listen to Ronald Hutton speak about anything.

[@LightBeing369]

Agreed. Absolutely captivating

[@alexandrasmith4393]

There’s a number of ‘worms’ in Scotland, I live near a place called Wormit, across the Tay in Dundee there was another one with a n area named after the battle, Strathmartin, meaning ‘strike Martin’.

[@transvestosaurus878]

_"Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."_ -- Neil Gaiman

[@Maxtyur]

Incorrect.

[@transvestosaurus878]

​@@Maxtyur_"People who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by dragons."_ -- Ursula K. Le Guin

[@Maxtyur]

@@transvestosaurus878 ok thanks I'm going to stay home .....FOREVER. 🏡

[@JesusIsKing91276]

​@@Maxtyur😂. I think you'll be ok.

[@RonCopperman]

​@@transvestosaurus878 lol (buuuurp)

[@Redmenace96]

Has everyone seen, "Dragonslayer" from 1981? In my top 20 All-time films.

[@runningsandwich]

Great movie

[@sweetpealee056]

Great movie but I really like "Reign of Fire" granted they are wyvern but still dragon imhp

[@HLBear]

As always, a pleasure to listen to Dr. Hutton! ❤ This is a fascinating subject.

[@MuscleQween]

Wow! I am from Mid Wales and I remember being told the story about the Gwiber growing up. I was looking into it just the other day. The mountain was Moel Bentyrch

[@Threetails]

Prof. Hutton is one of my favorite historians. A man of who knows so much history and the lore behind it.

[@jape7588]

Professor Hutton is a legend. Cheers from Norway

[@painstruck01]

He is so wonderfully lyrical.

[@user-wi6cz4hh5b]

How old or young is this video?

[@JaggedLittleEmtalaViolation]

He's so great. I remember when he was on Tudor Monastery Farm etc.

[@moxiebombshell]

THAT'S why he's familiar!! I was wondering where I knew him from.

[@glorialange6446]

I really enjoy this Professor and enjoyed him in the tv shows. I am American and wish I could listen to him in person.

[@Revolver1701]

I saw a video of a big alligator climbing a perimeter fence at least 8 feet high at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville Florida. Clearly a flying dragon.

[@PetroicaRodinogaster264]

Alligators and crocodiles are two different species. They are only found in a section of the US and in China…and in fresh water not salt. Crocs however are found in far more wider areas of the world which might add weight to the theory. The “true crocodiles” (family Crocodylidae) occur in most of Africa south of the Sahara, Madagascar, India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, the East Indies, northern Australia, Mexico and Central America, the West Indies, and northern South America.

[@JuanCarlosbarquero-f3e]

​​@@PetroicaRodinogaster264 Aren't there salt-water crocodiles in northern Australia?

[@johnnyangel504]

Or....more a ... " CLIMBING" dragon.

[@grannyannie2948]

​@@JuanCarlosbarquero-f3eAs an Australian we certainly do have salt water crocodiles. Probably the largest, 30 feet long is not unknown. We also have fresh water crocodiles ( not alligators, but crocodiles) but they are smaller. We also have land dwelling monitor lizards. I have seen them up to 8 foot, with jaws like a large dog.

[@grannyannie2948]

I have read about a very interesting theory about mediaeval dragons, put forward in about 1911. That is that they were rogue wild boars, in my country they are called Razorbacks. In cold weather their breath is a cloud of steam as if they breathed fire. And they are huge, sometimes almost as large as a cow. Quite capable of killing peasants. So we have genuine damsels in distress. Groups of boys, (13-15) would bravely set off to slay the dragon, and rescue the village. In doing so, if they succeeded, they would have proven their bravery, and earnt their knighthood. The theory is that everyone knew what these creatures were, but they were genuinely fearsome and dangerous, and were referred to as dragons. By using the term dragon and Dragonslayer, they were also showing honour to the boys genuine bravery.

[@DiZSalas]

This was such an amazing lecture, both interesting and hilarious!

[@Qwertasdfg89]

Thank you very much! Just a comment on 52:34: in Hungary, we actually have a creature in folk tales, called "sárkány", which is also the word used for the "common" European dragon, but it's nothing like that. This type of sárkány is basically a big, multi-headed, evil dude, who usually kidnaps a woman, preferably a princess, and lives in a magical castle. The functional role is quite similar though, they just get killed by the hero. I guess it's really an entirely different thing that has the same name, for some reason. Probably it's an earlier mythological monster type, and when Hungarians were introduced to European dragons, they just applied the same word to it, as it was also a big monster to be slain.

[@TWN-nw4jd]

These talks have become an instant favourite of mine, thank all involved for bringing us such well considered talks for free

[@coranova]

A new video with Ronald Hutton is always well appreciated 🧡🧡🧡

[@Insideadee]

I love all of Ronald Huttons lectures.

[@valcwf551]

Fantastic lecture, thank you.

[@stuartchapman5171]

I'm loving these lectures. I'm also enamoured by Somerset, landscape, it's past and present wildlife and folklore. I was hoping he'd touch on the first nation US legend of the Thunderbird and giant flying fossil remains.

[@donnadees1971]

On a hike with our little daughter of 3or4, we crossed paths with a little snake spitting his tongue - our little daughter said he spit fire. Odd coincidence.

[@AndyJarman]

Here in Australia the great "rainbow" or "green" serpent (the waugal) is regarded with trepidation. We still have salt water Crocs, Sharks, and theee of the five most venomous snakes in the world. This would contest the idea that the dragon persists as a remnant of a need for deference to an apex predator. It's peculiar that a snake, and particularly a water snake should exist when the water contains the most threatening predators but few if any snakes.

[@donnadees1971]

Your narration was so enjoyed,more because of your perfect enunciation. Lovely speaking voice.

[@kanewilliams1653]

Was a great talk, and then I listened to the Q&A and it became an AMAZING talk. Certainly a man who knows all about his beasts! Thanks for this.

[@lenepedersen5506]

I really appeciate I can watch your lectures. And it was great to hear Prof. Hutton again.

[@will2003michael2003]

Thank you, I am in Iowa USA, saw something that looked like a dragon out my car window one afternoon. Known several people who saw something simply including some legends in our part of the world. Always wondered if it was something mental or what it was.

[@JimGlimpse]

I'm in Alabama and have found Dragons in Bank Head Forest and Little River Canyon near Fort Payne Alabama.

[@Tom_Quixote]

Everyone knows there are no dragons in the USA. You have UFOs

[@JAGzilla-ur3lh]

Solid, engaging, informative lecture. I'm very interested in hearing more from this speaker and will check out his other videos on this channel.

[@rosslander96]

That’s a bit loosely stated to suggest that Christians up to the 19th century read the scriptures in a literalistic way. St. Augustine comes to mind as well as Origen, Jerome, and Aquinas. They viewed the scriptures as literally true, but not as literalists but as transcended truths of man’s relationship with the divine.

[@КатЖак]

Very interesting lecture! In the category of lake monsters I'd like to add that especially in Central and Eastern Europe there are stories about giant catfish (3-4 meters long) eating people and cattle. The story is that they grab you when you come close to the water and then drag you down, they will hide the body in some underwater pit and feed on you. In my experience, these stories are much less known in Western Europe. From what I've understood, there are some credible historical anecdotes about catfish eating human children, but the stories may be very exaggerated. Either way giant catfish might be the source for some lake monster stories. :)

[@moxiebombshell]

Honestly ever since I first learned about giant catfish I've found the idea of them much more disconcerting than the idea of a single solitary Lake Monster™ 😅

[@sonnylambert4893]

Giant pike,wels catfish, sturgeon for example are very big

[@kristijohnson1216]

Sounds a bit like the Cat Mnster - catfish face and whiskers - panther body. That's a native monster in the US. It lives in the MIssissipii and Missouri rivers, and in Lake Superior. You can Google Mississippian pottery Cat Monster and see what it looks like. You go near the water - maybe in the little willows - and suddenly there is an enormous catfish in your face. It happens much faster than "suddenly".

[@grannyannie2948]

I do believe that many legends are based on real creatures. The indigenous people of my country have a mythical monster called a Bunyip that takes girls who go near water at dusk. But the legend is not a legend in the regions where salt water crocodiles exist.

[@barbararowley6077]

Thank you for another entertaining and enlightening lecture! It was especially fascinating to learn where the Welsh dragon came from, as that was completely new to me.

[@asia8397]

Uwielbiam wykłady Profesora Huttona 🌹🌹🌹

[@y9y-f9q]

man I love this guy Doc Hutton, I'm going to watch every lecture I can find

[@johnt.inscrutable1545]

What an enjoyable lecture for a morning listen. Thank you!

[@robkunkel8833]

Saw him first doing Cunk on Britain. He is engaging. Thanks, rob

[@louisemay974]

Wonderful, thank you Gresham and Prof Hutton 👌

[@nickbarber2080]

Excellent as usual. Informative with a wry humour...just as I like it 😀

[@juliaogara8794]

Excellent. Thoroughly enjoyed

[@11Kralle]

Huttons remark about his favorite dragon reminded me of an early-modern, low-german legend (from the collection of Richard Wossidlo) about the last dragon in Mecklenburg - he also was sat upon for quite a while and was convinced to disappear (he withered into nothing, if I remember correctly).

[@DaboooogA]

Fascinating lecture!

[@Zed-y7h]

Wonderful Lecture! I was captivated the entire time.

[@reginaldodonoghue9253]

A problem with his general thesis is that wolves surely ‘do’ play a monstrous role in European folklore (contra Hutton’s admittedly correct observation that wolves aren’t that dangerous). I don’t really see why they needed dragons as well. I do wonder, however, if England in particular may have an unusually large amount of dragon legends because it lost it’s wolves earlier than any other European nation.

[@NevisYsbryd]

Wolves were not wiped out in the UK until the 17th or 18th century; most of these dragon stories are far older. And to the contrary, wolves are plenty dangerous; where retaliatory killings are not standard practice and wolves and humans have frequent contact (eg India), wolf predation on humans (mostly children and some elderly) are relatively common.

[@reginaldodonoghue9253]

@@NevisYsbryd in England they were wiped out earlier, in the Middle Ages

[@NevisYsbryd]

@@reginaldodonoghue9253 The very end of the 15th or early 16th century for England, specifically, which is the very end of the Middle Ages. Most of these dragon stories predate that by _at least_ a century and many by several, assuming they are not morphs of earlier local stories going back into the Early Middle Ages or earlier.

[@reginaldodonoghue9253]

@@NevisYsbryd even so, the number of wolves must have been much lower than elsewhere in Europe

[@grannyannie2948]

There was a pack of wolves in France during the 100 year war which became fond of human flesh and actively sought out peasants for food. The pack leader, I forget his name, was famously tried as a werewolf and executed. As for early mediaeval dragons in England, there was an interesting theory put forward in I think 1911. That is that they were rogue wild boars. These creatures occasionally become very large and dangerous. In cold weather their breath is a cloud of steam as if they breathed fire. These too would terrorise peasants and put damsels in distress. Groups of boys (13-15) would go off to slay the dragon. In doing so they could prove their bravery and earn a knight hood. The theory goes that people knew what the creatures were, but they were referred to as dragons, a) because they were truly fearsome and b) to honour the great bravery the boys had shown.

[@ratiounkn3210]

This is truly a delight to hear. Much appreciated.

[@preslove]

I love Ronald Hutton so much

[@user-xg8qj4nz2h]

What a fantastic lecture

[@helenamcginty4920]

What joy. Just when I was at a loose end. Only the ironing beckoning.

[@MrOnionterror]

You could join in by making a dragon noise with the steam booster button.

[@woollyfingers]

What a coincidence, I listened while doing the ironing as well. Smoke breathing monster with a long tail.....

[@helenamcginty4920]

I just rewatched this and found my comment. Ive still to get to the bottom of the pile. There's always more getting added. 😂

[@hughevans4652]

There is a red dragon and a white dragon in the Mabinogi Welsh/British myth, that fight to the death; perhaps the source for Tolkien's battle of Fire and Ice when Gandalf fights the Balrog.

[@sonnylambert4893]

Crests of 2 opposing clans?

[@hughevans4652]

@@sonnylambert4893 Maybe a latter day interpretation, but go back to the ancient world: this was a struggle between the people that adopted the sun as their main time-piece and those that adopted the moon in the same role. Lloegr, England, was the Land of the Moon (in Welsh).

[@tracyvandermerwe3265]

I love these lectures!

[@SAOS451316]

What proves the link between dinosaurs and other ancient reptiles and dragons, to me, is how the forms of dragons match common fossilized species in a region. For example in China it's common to find creatures similar to the brontosaurus with their long necks and tails, like the traditional long dragons (and coincidentally the Mandarin word for dragon is lóng).

[@Lurid_Orb]

Hutton and Dragons! You beauty!

[@erpthompsonqueen9130]

Thank you. Watching from Alaska.

[@DavidRoberts01341]

Another entertaining, informative and enjoyable talk: thank you! Great to see Richard Smith at the end of this video. I realise that he's not one of the Gresham professors but it would excellent to see some lectures by him. "Hobart's Pike" and his other talks, are some of my favourites from the Tank Museum's channel.

[@DamienRowatt]

Great presentation cheers. I've enjoyed some of his talks on DruidCast (the OBOD podcast), too.

[@tinyelvenmitten1774]

Thank you for yet another great and interesting lecture! I always enjoy these immensely! BUT I do have a question, even if I am pretty sure this will be buried in the KZbin comments section without anyone ever seeing it… You see I am myself a Finn, and the part about Finnish dragons intrigued me, as I have never heard this tale myself! I would love to know the source for this story, so I could find out more about it!

[@helenswan705]

not lost, not buried!

[@hArtyTruffle]

Always a delight ❤️

[@azsqa6286]

Great lecture, thanks

[@learning2curve995]

A subject close to my heart

[@alfreddaniels3817]

Hutton treats these legends as mere stories out of imaginations. He doesn’t consider even one time the possibility that these legends could be memories of real events.

[@fnps1663]

Exactly. But then this comes from the school of thought that says "don't be silly, we KNOW dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago, so it must all just be allegory and active imaginations..." Pfff.

[@tess-waterofawakening1288]

Yes...he acts like an authority over dowsers who work with the earth energy /serpent lines as John Michell was writing..

[@alfreddaniels3817]

@@fnps1663What school of thought is it that limits one to ask questions?

[@fnps1663]

Perhaps school of thought isn't the right term. More a world view? The type that says that man and dinosaur could never have crossed paths, and that won't even consider the possibility because it would challenge too much, and require a rethink of so many other things.@@alfreddaniels3817

[@fnps1663]

Perhaps school of thought is the wrong term. Maybe world view is a better one? The kind that says there is no way that man and dinosaur could ever have crossed paths, and that won't even consider the possibility because it would require too much of a rethink in other areas.@@alfreddaniels3817

[@garyhillman4993]

I could see this guy as a teacher in Harry Potter dishing out spells to dragons

[@joannashaw4668]

Such an interesting talk by Professor Hutton. I shall be listening to more.

[@TreyBratcher-l4s]

Professor Ron Hutton Belongs in Westminster Abbey He is the Greatest and I love listening to him no matter what he talks About he could read the phone book and I would be captivated

[@francisfischer7620]

Such a blessed and beautiful soul.

[@lukespringthorpe8211]

I absolutely love Peter Dickinson's, flight of dragons. I love dragon lore. I thoroughly enjoyed this well thought out perspective. Many plausible explanations and theories.

[@terryhayward7905]

I have read all of the Dragon riders of Pern books over the years, very well written stories.

[@Megaflytron.]

The idea of the ferrets...is it possible this is from the cobra and mongoose dynamic known in India (author of The Jungle Book who also wrote Rikki-Tikki Tavvi, a showdown between the two animals?)

[@YouWinILose]

Incredibly interesting! I would love to hear Hutton speak more on the Chinese dragon. He left out some of its crucial symbolic power - that of the storm that arises when great changes come upon the land. Timothy Brook's The Troubled Empire opens with accounts of such dragon sightings.

[@stevenredpath9332]

The oldest legends of dragons have them as water dragons which brought the major rains and storms. Just watch a thunderstorm for the roots of dragons vs gods myths.

[@gillmclean3202]

Professor Hutton is a joy to listen to. I always make a beeline for his lectures and share them copiously . Thank you Gresham College!

[@PerAnkh418]

Great Lecture Ronald. Met you a few times at conventions 👍

[@paulmagus2133]

I love this man

[@sussifletcher2732]

Great lecture 👍

[@RvnKnight]

Excellent lecture! One note about basilisks and cockatrice is that they usually ate the creatures they turned into stone according to the myths I have read on them. Regarding the primary topic of dragons, I personally believe that the oriental dragons were seen as the natural forces while the European dragons were more of a metaphor for a major challenge or undertaking. This would explain why it was mostly knights and craftsmen that defeated the European dragons and the Chinese essentially learned to live with them. With the stories and legends passed down through the generations, and a vast majority of people in the Dark and Middle Ages having very minor education, the dragons that were fought in legend were equated to the biblical dragons instead of the challenges that were overcome.

[@rmschindler144]

at 11:33 is pictured the lindworm, which at first glance looks rather ferocious, till you take in its adorable little arms and legs

[@maddyhurricks5122]

Love this historian! New Zealand has no snakes.

[@giuseppersa2391]

Such a wonderful human being 🌹✌️😊

[@NemieKav]

Hoping the teacher who told 8 yearold me off for transgressively writing a story about a kindly dragon who was rescuing princess, is able to hear this lecture🐉 thank you Prof Hutton & Gresham college, throughly enjoyable and informative, as ever!

[@rmschindler144]

what an interesting & charming fellow . you sense it’s someone with whom it would be just splendid to share a cup of tea

[@alta7777]

Loved it

[@drichards4426]

If you really look into the history of dragons, the word just means any large reptile. It’s entirely possible that early humans had contact with sufficiently large reptile to come up with the legends.

[@missbornlucky6676]

i wish one day i can attend one of his classes and meet prof hutton in person

[@jasonshapiro9469]

This dude is great. You can tell he knows a lot about dragons..like a lot a lot fr fr

[@Megaflytron.]

Plot twist: The professor is truly a dragon, his notes are the dragon family photo album 🐲🐉🐲🐉

[@Shtf132]

Krokodilopardalis Crocodile-Leopard is what the Greeks or Latins called it. Its from an ancient fresco from Italy depicting the Nile valley showing Nubians fightings a velociraptor looking creature from around 200 BC

[@TheLexamix]

Finland doesnt have an enormous seacoast, they have a little bit of ocean that comes from the tiny gap between Denmark and Sweden. lack of this, and that the finnish arent really seafarers will naturally cause a lack of this kind of creatures. Also theres other dragons in scandinavian culture, like fafner

[@lindagates6406]

@@TheLexamix and the Republic of Finland has access to the Arctic ocean too ❤️ 💙 💜

[@ArcanumV]

Dr. Hutton is clearly a Time Lord doing everything he can to share knowledge but not outright saying "I was there. I saw it happen."

[@_LinusVanPelt]

thank you 😸♥️ this is the only type of content i come to youtube for ✨ also my favorite dragon is ivan 🐉💚