Medieval Reads: The Thirteen Hallows, by Michael Scott and Colette Freedman
Arthurian horror is a thing.
Medieval Reads: The Hound and the Falcon Trilogy, by Judith Tarr
What is so special about the Medievalist trilogy?
The Complicated Case of Medieval Crime Fiction
What makes the job of being a medieval detective so difficult, and also makes the medieval crime fiction genre so good?
Medieval Reads: Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe and John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice Series
The interesting thing about the invented Middle Ages is that it carries over the aspects we enjoy from history and dumps the things that are less fun.
New Medieval Books: The Lords of the Winds, by C.J. Adrien
The story of a boy who was a slave, who became a warlord, and who helped topple an empire. Read an excerpt from C.J. Adrien’s latest novel.
The First Battle of Lindisfarne: Where History and Legend Meet
Long before Lindisfarne became known as one of the most isolated holy islands in Britain — second perhaps only to Iona — it was an area of great strategic importance.
Medieval Reads: The Chronicles of Prydain, by Lloyd Alexander
There are many varieties of fantasy Middle Ages, but they all have this path in common. The nature of those works and the genre of those works give us different visions of the Middle Ages.
Medieval Reads: Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey is rather important in showing us how people responded in the early nineteenth century to the making of history into the mysterious and the dangerous. It shows us the mirror through which many young people viewed the Middle Ages.
Medieval Reads: The Owl Service, by Alan Garner
The Owl Service is one of the books that dragged me into becoming a medieval historian and also persuaded me that understanding who people are in relation to their culture is so very important.
Medieval Reads: Evangeline Walton and the Mabinogion
Many, many fantasy readers and writers begin their fascination with Medieval Wales with the Mabinogion.
Medieval Elements in Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
Published in 1831, the classic historical Gothic romance The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is representative for narratology, since the plot is majestically set in medieval Paris and Victor Hugo manages to create a specific Middle-Ages atmosphere
Game of Thrones, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Roots of Modern Fantasy
With the coming of the final season of HBO’s Game of Thrones, the mainstreaming of the medieval-fantasy genre that began with Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies is complete.
Medieval mystery novels with Candace Robb
Everyone loves a medieval mystery novel, but just how does an author go about creating one that’s true to the period?
Medieval Reads: Van Loon’s Lives by Hendrik Van Loon
My personal label for it is this-is-fantasy-fiction-but-it’s-acting-as-fact. Or I could call it a novel about dinner parties with dead people.
Medieval Reads: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
Once in a generation, a writer comes along and, in making fun of his generation and in creating fun using the Middle Ages brings together a new set of stories for people to tell. This is what Mark Twain did in 1889.
My Husband: The Extraordinary History of Nicholas Brome
Inspired by real bloodstains and from detailed research comes a refreshingly different historical romance between a god-fearing woman and a known murderer.
Creating the Vikingverse – An Interview with Ian Stuart Sharpe
What if the Norse religion of the Vikings had overcome Christianity? That is one of the questions Ian Stuart Sharpe explores in his debut novel, The All Father Paradox.
Medieval Reads: Henry Treece’s Viking’s Dawn
I shall explore in this column is how each writer creates their particular Middle Ages and how that Middle Ages works at story feel.
Built on a True Dream: The Medieval Church and Its Representation in Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth
This thesis aims to illustrate the way in which Follett has depicted the medieval Church of the twelfth century and answer the question of whether this depiction is a historical accurate representation.
Y Gododdin, the Votadini and Arthurian Legend
Chances are good that unless you’re a scholar of Welsh literature, Arthurian legend, or early Scottish history, you’ve never heard of a Welsh poem called “Y Gododdin” (“The Gododdin,” in English).
Book Reviews: Medieval Studies and the Ghost Stories of M. R. James / Four Ghost Stories
Medieval historians know M.R. James primarily as the compiler of many catalogues of Cambridge manuscripts and as the translator of New Testament apocrypha, but he was also the author of several collections of ghost stories
For the want of Emma: What if the Vikings had won the Battle of Stamford Bridge?
If you could alter history, change one subtle event, what would you pick? For a Viking fan, the answer might be as simple as it is iconic.
Glass Island, by Gareth Griffith
Read an excerpt from Glass Island, a debut novel by Gareth Griffith, set in 6th century Britain.
Reading Recommendations for a Marvellous Medieval Summer
In preparation for summer reading, Natalie Anderson shares some of her favourite works of medieval historical fiction.
