What is Medieval?
Decoding Approaches to the Medieval and Medievalism in the 21st Century
Edited by Emma J. Wells Edited by Claire Kennan
An examination of medievalism and the medieval in a variety of contexts, from formal learners in the academy to informal learning in schools, museums and at heritage sites, as well as popular culture today and throughout history, and the democratisation of knowledge and image via the internet.
The Middle Ages and Medievalism have been used and abused throughout history–and this continues. This narrative deserves a reassessment. But, what is Medieval? This is the central question that unifies the contributions in this volume. ‘Medievalism’, or the study of the Middle Ages in its broadest sense, refers to the perception, conceptualisation and movement towards the era post the fifteenth century. Its study is therefore not about the period otherwise referred to as the ‘Middle Ages’, but rather the myriad ways it has since been conceived. And the field of medievalism is still in its relative infancy which has led to the emergence of various existential questions about its scope, remit, theoretico-methodological and pedagogical underpinnings, interpretation, periodization, and its relationship to established disciplines and more emerging subdisciplines and specialised fields-both within and without the academy. In turn, neomedievalism has allowed insight into and a response to the medieval often dominated by the modern. This has provoked debate over the nature of neomedievalism as a discipline, subdiscipline, genre, field or offshoot in direct or contrasting relation to the more traditional medievalism. Featuring interdisciplinary contributions from academics, educational practitioners as well as museum, digital and heritage professionals, this volume provides a fresh reflection on past methods to emerging pedagogies as well as new avenues of enquiry into the ways we think about the medieval. It is by reconciling these seemingly disparate forms that we can better understand the continual, interconnected, and often politicised, reinvention of the Middle Ages throughout cultures and study.
- Edited by Emma J. Wells
- Edited by Claire Kennan
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