Thoroughly Modern Valkyries: The Shift to Girl Power
From Wagner to the Marvel Cinematic Universe – the modern portrayal of Valkyries.
Dragons in Medieval Literature
We are going to speak about dragons because dragons are among the creatures that figure in almost all fantasy books.
In Defence of the Society for Creative Anachronism
There’s always been a fraught relationship between medieval academia and the Society for Creative Anachronism
Black Metal, Folkish Heathenism, Church Burning, and Medievalism
The revival of ancient religions and the love of powerful, loud music can be used for good, or for ill.
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.
Let Us Go Forth Amongst the Fighters: Valkyries, Shield Maidens, and Alt-Right Women
To begin a three-part examination of the concept of the valkyrie and other powerful female figures in Norse literature, this month we’re delving into medieval Scandinavia and the use of Norse symbols and figures by the alt-right.
Traces of the Past: Reenacting the Medieval Period in Argentina
What is the reason why more and more people participate in these events: historical curiosity, cultural immersion, entertainment, or all three of them?
The History Channel’s Knight Fight: How Historically Accurate is it?
Taking a look at the History Channel’s newest ‘medieval’ show Knight Fight.
Juggling the Middle Ages with Jan Ziolkowski
Episode 6 of The Medieval Podcast – Danièle is joined by Jan Ziolkowski to talk about the ‘Juggling the Middle Ages’ exhibition at Dumbarton Oaks.
A Quest for the Black Knight: Casting People of Color in Arthurian Film and Television
Must actors of color be portrayed as the “Other” when (or if) given roles in films made in the West about the European Middle Ages?
Medievalisms: Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Re-creation of the French Past
What many don’t realize is that the majority of what one sees when one looks at Notre-Dame’s west façade is a modern restoration.
The Bright Side of the Knife: Dismemberment in Medieval Europe and the Modern Imagination
Together with hazardous quests, plagues, peasant squalor, witches, trials by ordeal, and makeshift projectiles (including catapulted livestock and annoying monosyllables), dismemberment in Monty Python’s dark Arthurian world is a commonplace
Benign Medievalisms: The Juggling the Middle Ages Exhibit at Harvard’s Dumbarton Oaks
Like so many medieval stories, the “juggler” narrative first fell into obscurity for almost 500 years, only to be unearthed and re-present-ed by nineteenth-century scholars and artists to meet the tastes of various history-hungry modern audiences.
Medievalisms: The Society for Creative Anachronism
There are tens of thousands of people who want to recreate the Middle Ages “as they ought to have been.” But what is the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) and what is its future?
“I can piss on Calais from Dover”: Graphic novel depictions of medieval mobility and exchange in the Hundred Years War (1337-1453)
The Hundred Years War has also come to the fore in modern graphic novel depictions of the medieval past
Vikings: The Salty Dogs of the Northern Seas?
Can there be such a thing as ‘Viking Salt’? Beth Rogers, in the first post for her new column on Medieval Food, looks for the answers behind this unusual product and how the Vikings are being associated with healthy eating.
From Ivanhoe to Ironclad: Excavating Layers of Tradition in a Medieval Film
By calling into question the trustworthiness of the historical record, this scene, from the 2011 film
Ironclad directed by Jonathan English, could be the filmmaker’s pre-emptive strike against those who
would criticize a film’s historical accuracy
Were women ever sacred? Some medieval and modern men would like us to think so
What do we really know about this phenomenon of medieval “courtly love” and the gender roles it displayed?
Brock conference bridges medieval and neo-Victorian worlds
The conference is expected to bring around 60 international scholars from medievalism studies and neo-Victorian studies to discuss topics ranging from Beowulf to Brexit.
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
From Vinland to Valhalla, From Saga to Manga
The works in focus are Vinland saga, an ongoing manga series created by Makoto Yukimura, and Valhalla, a Danish comics series that can be traced back to the 1970s.
Campaign for Second Viking Coloring Book is Live on Kickstarter
Help support the creation of Volume 2 of The Viking Coloring Book on Kickstarter.
‘I watch it for historic reasons.’ Representation and reception of the Middle Ages in ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ and ‘Game of Thrones’
This article aims to analyse several ideas of the Middle Ages that inspired HBO’s TV show Game of Thrones (HBO 2011-), based on George R. R. Martin’s ongoing series of novels A Song of Ice and Fire (1996-).
Murderous Mermaid: Why Siren Is More Medieval Than You Think
In medieval bestiaries, the Sirens are portrayed as deadly seducers who use their seductive songs to lure the sailors to sleep, and then attack them with sharp teeth and tear open their flesh.