I chose the Absu track because I thought that the song fit musically as well as lyrically with the magical and mythological aspects of its time period. While it could be argued that it might be better for a "magic" or "mythology" compilation, I think it fits absolutely fine in this one.

Nice, both are correct :)

edit :

And the last one had to be you of course!

^ Planxty Noel Hill there was composed by the Pogues in response to the Irish critic Noel Hill from, oddly enough, Planxty, who just before the tune was written had claimed that the Pogues were disrespecting the Irish musical tradition with their pioneering brand of Celtic punk. It's basically one of my favourite knees-up kinda drinking tunes, and in its deeply traditional sound has a strangely Medieval vibe about it which is a bit hard to explain. You can kind of imagine it being played by the banquet table, with all the local lords and whatsits drinking the provincial wines from Last Crusade-style goblets and so on. At least that's what I thought anyway.

Good guess! :p:

When the Medieval theme was first introduced, Ripaille immediately came to mind. To "ripaille" means to feast. They are a French progressive rock band who only released one album, 1977's La vieille que l'on brûla (losely translating to "The old one that burned"). It tells the story of an old woman getting burned for sorcery. It's kind of a mixture of folk and chamber prog, with a definite Medieval vibe. The first half of the album is mostly if not entirely instrumental and a bit more laid back (like chamber prog), but it picks up in the second half with some vocals and more lively instrumentation (like folk prog) reminding me of Gentle Giant's playfulness. In fact I wonder why they didn't cross my mind during the track selection process. There are three bonus tracks which I feel are essential because they really flow well and add to the more lively second half of the album proper. The bonus tracks were intended for a sophomore album that never saw the light of day. The track "Epilogue" is the final proper track before these bonus tracks, and kind of sums up the story. I had a difficult time selecting between this and a few other tracks.