Medieval Times coming to Arizona
Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament broke ground this week on its tenth North American castle, to be located in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The Romance of the Past? Nineteenth-Century Medievalism and the Tournament
The nineteenth century saw a rebirth of fascination with the Middle Ages, although this interest often had more to do with romance than reality. A perfect medium for the expression of this nineteenth-century medievalism was the tournament.
Our Future is Our Past: Corporate Medievalism in Dystopian Fiction
Predictions of a return to the past have also inspired the dystopian visions of Octavia Butler’s Earthseed duology, Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake duology, and Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games trilogy
The fall of Rome and the retreat of European multiculturalism: A historical trope as a discourse of authority in public debate
This paper examines one recent incident of the use of a highly charged trope of Classical history, the Fall of the Roman Empire, as a discourse of authority in current public debates on western multicultural policies, in relation to the tragic events of the Paris terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015.
Book Review: Medievalism: A Manifesto
A rallying cry for scholars in general to harness the power of public platforms to better society.
The quest for medievalism in ‘The Witcher 3’
This study seeks to investigate the medieval thematic in computer gaming and pursue what historical elements that persist through this relatively new medium.
Game of Tropes: Subversion of Medieval Ideals in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire
Martin does not only incorporate these medieval “building blocks” into his own work, he also deviates from them.
Call for Papers: Medievalism in Popular Culture
PCA/ACA 2018 National Conference – March 28th – 31st, 2018 – Indianapolis, Indiana
How Legend Constructs French National Identity: Jeanne d’Arc
Since the fifteenth century, French authors have (re)told the story of Jeanne d’Arc.
Joan of Arc through the Ages: In Art and Imagination
Since her death at the hands of the English in 1431, Joan of Arc has inspired and puzzled millions.
New Medieval Books: Medievalism
Five recently published books that deal with medievalism.
The Armor Network: Medieval Prostheses and Degenerative Posthuman Bodies
By studying depictions of armor in The Canterbury Tales, Le Morte D’Arthur, and The Faerie Queene, and by seeing how these works help us understand the use of medievalism in digital media, we can unravel how armored bodies in Western cultural narratives function as a way to think through the problematics of posthuman transformations.
The Desire for Solitude: The Secret Poems of Irish Monks
Medieval monks worked long hours in silence copying and illustrating manuscripts. But what happened when their minds began to wander?
Old Food was Never Better: Augmenting event authenticity at a medieval festival
Initially, an exploratory ethnographic study was conducted at a pre-festival medieval banquet to explore dimensions of food and beverage apparent in the literature. This informed a resultant survey which was administered at the festival tournament.
The gargoyles of San Francisco : medievalist architecture in Northern California 1900-1940
This thesis examines the development from the novel perspective of medievalism—the study of the Middle Ages as an imaginative construct in western society after their actual demise.
European Viking Themed Festivals: An Expression of Identity
Viking themed festivals are now widespread throughout Europe and are a popular expression of heritage identity.
Post-Apocalyptic Fiction: A Return to the Medieval
A specific theme in post-apocalyptic science fiction is a return to a new medieval context.
Orientalism in Assassin’s Creed
On first glance Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed from 2007, the first of a long and popular series, presents itself as yet another example of Orientalism in video games
‘Nothing is true, everything is permitted’: The Portrayal of the Nizari Isma’ilis in the Assassin’s Creed Game Series
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed does a remarkable – though not flawless – job in presenting a well-balanced game narrative, which incorporates not only a historically justified representation of the Nizari Isma’ilis, but also implicitly corrects one of the most famous Western legends about the so-called ‘Assassins’
Gaming history: computer and video games as historical scholarship
The video game offers far greater potential for the creation and presentation of history than any other entertainment or interactive media.
Muscular Medievalism
Our job as medievalists—as humanists—is not to wall off the Middle Ages from public discourse when it’s being misused or mishandled.
Before the Kaiser: The Memory of Saladin and the Crusades in the Near East from the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries
I remember that I am now in a city in which once lived the greatest prince whose name is recorded in history, the valorius hero, whose courage, his elevation and nobility of character and his devotion to his religion was an example in heroism even to his enemies. I refer to the great sultan Saladin of the dynasty of Ayyub when I think of this.
Identity and Posthuman Medievalism in Sons of Anarchy
The medievalism of the FX television series Sons of Anarchy (2008-2014) is not inherently obvious. Set in Northern California, the series follows a fictional outlaw motorcycle club (MC) modeled on real gangs including the Hells Angels. Critics, fans, and creators alike discuss the series as an extended adaptation of Hamlet, and the broad narrative of the series is indeed a family tragedy.
Flatness and Depth: Classic Disney’s Medieval Vision
Since a castle is its corporate logo, we should hardly be surprised that castles, as well as other elements of medieval architecture, figure prominently in a host of classic-era Disney films.