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, "Medievalism and Individual Responsibility" - Karl Fugelso, "Defining Medievalism in Nineteenth-Century Commedia Illustrations" - Renee Ward, "Remus 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, "The 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, volume XXV, is based upon but not restricted to the 2010 proceedings of the annual International Conference on Medievalism, organized by the Director of Conferences for the International Society for the Study of Medievalism, Gwendolyn Morgan, and, for 2009, Dr. Pam Clements. The Year's Work in Medievalism also publishes bibliographies, book reviews, and announcements for conferences and other events. Richard Utz, Pi(o)us Medievalism vs. Catholic Modernism: The Case Of George Tyrell Martha Oberle, The Legacy of the Medieval Mendicant Orders Chelsea Gunter, Mysticism and Messianism in the Poetry of Paul Celan William Calin, Postcolonialism and Medievalism: How French Regional Cultures/Literatures Reshape Their Past and Present Jana K. Schulman, Retelling Old Tales: Germanic Myth and Language in Christopher Paolini's Eragon Arthur Russell, From English Stage to American Page: The Transatlantic Dissemination of Leonard MacNally's Robin Hood; or, Sherwood Forest Gwendolyn Morgan, The Battle of Maldon in Imitative Translation Edward L. Risden, The Battle of Maldon: A One-act Play for Readers' Theater T.S. Miller, A Look at Some New Lays of Beowulf: The Misunderstood Monsters of Contemporary Popular Music Aspen Hougen, Debilitating Dracula: Vampire as Illness Metaphor from the Middle Ages to the Present Day Peter Johnsson, Purged by Fire: The Influence of Medieval Visionary Literature on Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Gerald Nachtwey, Unburied Corpses: The Violence of the Past in William Morris's Froissartian Poems Karl Fugelso, Dante as Surfer Medievalism: Sandow Birk's Commedia Illustrations

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

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 2008 includes papers delivered at the 22nd Annual conference on Medievalism, organized by the International Society for Studies in Medievalism, and held at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada on 4-7 October 2007. The topic of the conference was "Neomedievalisms" and these papers address various aspects of the term, including its definition, range, and application, The conference was organized by M. J. Toswell, who is the editor of this volume; the Director of Conferences and Series Editor of the Year's Work in Medievalism is Gwendolyn Morgan.

The Year's Work in Medievalism 2009 includes papers delivered at the 23rd Annual Conference on Medievalism, organized by the International Society for Studies in Medievalism, and held at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia in October 2008. The topic of the conference was "Regional Medievalisms," a topic this volume conceives of broadly; the enclosed essays address medievalism in different genres and academic fields as well as geographic regions. The conference was organized by Amy S. Kaufman, who is the editor of this volume; the Director of Conferences and Series Editor of the Year's Work in Medievalism is Gwendolyn Morgan. Contributors: --Gwendolyn Morgan, Beowulf and the Middle Ages in Film --Cory James Rushton, Canadian Grail --Alexander Moffett, "Certain Fragments of Yellow Parchment": Remembering the Medieval in Virginia Woolf's "The Journal of Mistress Joan Martyn" --Kathleen Coyne Kelly, Russ Meyer, Bricoleur: King Arthur, Wonder Woman, and Nazis in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls --Karl Fugeslo, Regional Medievalisms in Academia: Pictorial vs. Textual Responses to the Divine Comedy --M.J. Toswell, Earle Birney: Medievalist Bard of British Columbia --Cory Lowell Grewell, Vanquishing the Beast Within: Christianization of the Hero Ethos in Robert Zemeckis's Beowulf

The role of laughter and humour in the postmedieval citation, interpretation or recreation of the middle ages has hitherto received little attention, a gap in scholarship which this book aims to fill. Examining a wide range of comic texts and practices across several centuries, from Don Quixote and early Chaucerian modernisation through to Victorian theatre, the Monty Python films, television and the experience of visiting sites of "heritage tourism" such as the Jorvik Viking Museum at York, it identifies what has been perceived as uniquely funny about the Middle Ages in different times and places, and how this has influenced ideas not just about the medieval but also about modernity. Tracing the development and permutations of its various registers, including satire, parody, irony, camp, wit, jokes, and farce, the author offers fresh and amusing insight into comic medievalism as a vehicle for critical commentary on the present as well as the past, and shows that for as long as there has been medievalism, people have laughed at and with the middle ages. Louise D'Arcens is Associate Professor in English Literatures at the University of Wollongong.

An accessibly-written survey of the origins and growth of the discipline of medievalism studies. The field known as "medievalism studies" concerns the life of the Middle Ages after the Middle Ages. Originating some thirty years ago, it examines reinventions and reworkings of the medieval from the Reformation to postmodernity, from Bale and Leland to HBO's Game of Thrones. But what exactly is it? An offshoot of medieval studies? A version of reception studies? Or a new form of cultural studies? Can such a diverse field claim coherence? Should it be housed in departments of English, or History, or should it always be interdisciplinary? In responding to such questions, the author traces the history of medievalism from its earliest appearances in the sixteenth century to the present day, across a range of examples drawn from the spheres of literature, art, architecture, music and more. He identifies two major modes, the grotesque and the romantic, and focuses on key phases of the development of medievalism in Europe: the Reformation, the late eighteenth century, and above all the period between 1815 and 1850, which, he argues, represents the zenith of medievalist cultural production. He also contends that the 1840s were medievalism's one moment of canonicity in several European cultures at once. After that, medievalism became a minority form, rarely marked with cultural prestige, though always pervasive and influential. Medievalism: a Critical History scrutinises several key categories - space, time, and selfhood - and traces the impact of medievalism on each. It will be the essential guide to a complex and still evolving field of inquiry. David Matthews is Professor of Medieval and Medievalism Studies at the University of Manchester.

Eleanor of Aquitaine (1124-1204), queen of France and England and mother of two kings, has often been described as one of the most remarkable women of the Middle Ages. Yet her real achievements have been embellished--and even obscured--by myths that have grown up over eight centuries. This process began in her own lifetime, as chroniclers reported rumours of her scandalous conduct on crusade, and has continued ever since. She has been variously viewed as an adulterous queen, a monstrous mother and a jealous murderess, but also as a patron of literature, champion of courtly love and proto-feminist defender of women's rights. Inventing Eleanor interrogates the myths that have grown up around the figure of Eleanor of Aquitaine and investigates how and why historians and artists have invented an Eleanor who is very different from the 12th-century queen. The book first considers the medieval primary sources and then proceeds to trace the post-medieval development of the image of Eleanor, from demonic queen to feminist icon, in historiography and the broader culture.

It is often assumed that those outside of academia know very little about the Middle Ages. But the truth is not so simple. Non-specialists in fact learn a great deal from the myriad medievalisms - post-medieval imaginings of the medieval world - that pervade our everyday culture. These, like Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones, offer compelling, if not necessarily accurate, visions of the medieval world. And more, they have an impact on the popular imagination, particularly since there are new medievalisms constantly being developed, synthesised and remade. But what does the public really know? How do the conflicting medievalisms they consume contribute to their knowledge? And why is this important? In this book, the first evidence-based exploration of the wider public's understanding of the Middle Ages, Paul B. Sturtevant adapts sociological methods to answer these important questions. Based on extensive focus groups, the book details the ways - both formal and informal - that people learn about the medieval past and the many other ways that this informs, and even distorts, our present. In the process, Sturtevant also sheds light, in more general terms, onto the ways non-specialists learn about the past, and why understanding this is so important. The Middle Ages in Popular Imagination will be of interest to anyone working on medieval studies, medievalism, memory studies, medieval film studies, informal learning or public history.