The Year's Work in Medievalism:2005-2006 is based upon but not restricted to the proceedings of the International Conference on Medievalism for those years. The International Conference on Medievalism is organized by Gwendolyn Morgan for the International Society for the Study of Medievalism and, for the subject volume, Karl Fugelso of Towson University (2005) and Claire Simmons of Ohio State University (2006). This first volume of this double issue focuses on medievalism as a means of exploring gender issues and identity,while the second examines the juxtaposition of modern to medieval society as a means of curing present ills.

The Year's Work in Medievalism: 2004 is based upon but not restricted to the 2004 proceedings of the annual International Conference on Medievalism, organized by the Director of Conferences for Studies in Medievalism, Gwendolyn Morgan, and, for 2004, Christa Canitz of the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton. The essays of the current volume center on the question of individual responsibility in humanizing one's society through the use of medievalism. ¥ Gwendolyn A. Morgan, ÒMedievalism and Individual Responsibility ¥ Karl Fugelso, ÒDeþning Medievalism in Nineteenth-Century Commedia Illustrations ¥ Renee Ward, ÒRemus Lupin and Community: The Werewolf Tradition in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Series. ¥ Nancy M. Thompson, Architectural Restoriation and Stained Glass in 19th-Century Siena: The Place of Light in Giuseppe Partini's Purismo ¥ Barbara Gribling, Nationalism and the Image of the Black Prince ¥ Clare A. Simmons, Small-Scale Humor in the British Medieval Revival ¥ Brian C. Johnsrud, ÒThe Monsters Do Not Depart: Re-Unifying Norse, Anglo-Saxon, and Christian in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings ¥ Jaimie Hensley, J.R.R. Tolkien and Walther von der Volgelweide: Faerie and Reality ¥ Peter G. Christensen, From Waste Land to Grail and Back Again Naomi Mitchison's To the Chapel Perilous

The Year's Work in Medievalism includes vetted essays from the Studies in Medievalism--now International Society for the Study of Medievalism--annual conference and from submissions to the editor throughout the year. The current volume includes a range of topics from medievalism in literature and art to the neomedievalism of movies and games. It includes these scholarly contributions: E. L. Risden, Introductory Letter from the Editor Gwendolyn Morgan, Recollections of Medievalism Richard Utz, Them Philologists: Philological Practices and Their Discontents from Nietzsche to Cerquiglini Clare Simmons, Really Ancient Druids in British Medievalist Drama Karl Fugelso, Neomedievalisms in Tom Phillips' Commedia Illustrations Jason Fisher, Some Contributions to Middle-earth Lexicography: Hapax Legomena in The Lord of the Rings Simon Roffey, The World of Warcraft: A Medievalist Perspective William Hodapp, Arthur, Beowulf, Robin Hood, and Hollywood's Desire for Origins M. J. Toswell, The Arthurian Landscapes of Guy Gavriel Kay

In the period between the Second World War and the present, there has been an extraordinary rise in the production of medievalist fantasy literature and film. This has been accompanied by the revival, performance and invention of medieval music. In this enterprise modern fantasies of the Middle Ages have exercised great influence. Fantasies of music in nostalgic medievalism shows how music, medievalism and nostalgia have been woven together in the fantasies of writers and readers, musicians, musicologists, directors and listeners, film-makers and film-goers. This book studies the ways in which three fields of creative activity inspired by the medieval – musical performance, literature, cinema and their reception – have worked together to produce and sustain, for some, the fantasy of a long-lost, long-mourned paradisal home.

New essays attempt to survey and map out the increasingly significant discipline of medievalism. Medievalism has been attracting considerable scholarly attention in recent years. But it is also suffering from something of an identity crisis. Where are its chronological and geographical boundaries? How does it relate to the Middle Ages? Does it comprise neomedievalism, pseudomedievalism, and other "medievalisms"? Studies in Medievalism XVII directly addresses these and related questions via a series of specially-commissioned essays from some of the most well-known scholars in the field; they explore its origins, survey the growth of the subject, and attempt various definitions. The volume then presents seven articles that often test the boundaries of medievalism: they look at echoes of medieval bestiaries in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, the influence of the Niebelungenlied on Wagner's Ring cycle, representations of King Alfred in two works by Dickens, medieval tropes in John Bale's Reformist plays, authenticity in Sigrid Undset's novel Kristin Lavransdatter, incidental medievalism in Handel's opera Rodelinda, and editing in the audio version of Seamus Heaney's Beowulf. CONTRIBUTORS: KATHLEEN VERDUIN, CLARE A. SIMMONS, NILS HOLGER PETERSEN, TOM SHIPPEY, GWENDOLYN A. MORGAN, M. J. TOSWELL, ELIZABETH EMERY, KARL FUGELSO, EMILY WALKER HEADY, MARK B. SPENCER, GAIL ORGELFINGER, DOUGLAS RYAN VAN BENTHUYSEN, THEA CERVONE, WERNER WUNDERLICH, EDWARD R. HAYMES

In The Militant Middle Ages, historian Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri delves into common perceptions of the Middle Ages and how these views shape contemporary political contexts. Today more than ever, the medieval era is mined from across the political spectrum for symbols, examples, allegories, and models to represent and interpret the present. From “new crusades” to fantasy literature and cosplay, from Catholic Traditionalism to environmentalism, from neo-Vikings to medieval tourism and festivals, Carpegna Falconieri leads us in an impassioned and often disquieting journey through the “Modern Middle Ages.” The first book-length study dedicated to the broad phenomenon of political medievalism, The Militant Middle Ages offers a new lens for scrutinizing contemporary society through its instrumentalization of the medieval past. First published in Italian as Medioevo militante. La politica di oggi alle prese con barbari e crociati - © 2011 Giulio Einaudi editore s.p.a., Torino.

This collection compiles essays by medievalist scholars that examine the variety of ways authors have fictionalized the medieval period while meeting the challenge of creating engaging literature. More significantly, this project seeks to explore the importance of authenticity in these works of medievalism. The works discussed represent a variety of genres, including historical, young adult, Arthurian detective fiction, paranormal romance and fantasy, as well as adaptations of Beowulf and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Opening the collection are three essays by author-scholars who share their processes of creating an authentic medieval world appealing to a wide audience. The remaining seven essays by medievalist scholars examine a variety of medievalist texts, addressing the extent to which their authors adhere to the facts of the period, while at times necessarily filling in historical gaps in the process of creating these works. Each of the essays addresses the concept of authenticity in fiction about the Middle Ages; together, they become a lively conversation about authenticity in narratives of various genres.

Writing the Barbarian Past examines the presentation of the non-Roman, pre-Christian past in Latin and vernacular historical narratives composed between c.550 and c.1000: the Gothic histories of Jordanes and Isidore of Seville, the Fredegar chronicle, the Liber Historiae Francorum, Paul the Deacon’s Historia Langobardorum, Waltharius, and Beowulf; it also examines the evidence for an oral vernacular tradition of historical narrative in this period. In this book, Shami Ghosh analyses the relative significance granted to the Roman and non-Roman inheritances in narratives of the distant past, and what the use of this past reveals about the historical consciousness of early medieval elites, and demonstrates that for them, cultural identity was conceived of in less binary terms than in most modern scholarship.

This interdisciplinary handbook provides extensive information about research in medieval studies and its most important results over the last decades. The handbook is a reference work which enables the readers to quickly and purposely gain insight into the important research discussions and to inform themselves about the current status of research in the field. The handbook consists of four parts. The first, large section offers articles on all of the main disciplines and discussions of the field. The second section presents articles on the key concepts of modern medieval studies and the debates therein. The third section is a lexicon of the most important text genres of the Middle Ages. The fourth section provides an international bio-bibliographical lexicon of the most prominent medievalists in all disciplines. A comprehensive bibliography rounds off the compendium. The result is a reference work which exhaustively documents the current status of research in medieval studies and brings the disciplines and experts of the field together.

The Oxford Handbook of Women and Gender in Medieval Europe provides a comprehensive overview of the gender rules encountered in Europe in the period between approximately 500 and 1500 C.E. The essays collected in this volume speak to interpretative challenges common to all fields of women's and gender history - that is, how best to uncover the experiences of ordinary people from archives formed mainly by and about elite males, and how to combine social histories of lived experiences with cultural histories of gendered discourses and identities. The collection focuses on Western Europe in the Middle Ages but offers some consideration of medieval Islam and Byzantium. The Handbook is structured into seven sections: Christian, Jewish, and Muslim thought; law in theory and practice; domestic life and material culture; labour, land, and economy; bodies and sexualities; gender and holiness; and the interplay of continuity and change throughout the medieval period. It contains material from some of the foremost scholars in this field, and it not only serves as the major reference text in medieval and gender studies, but also provides an agenda for future new research.