The field of medieval studies has shifted towards a growing degree of inter- and multidisciplinarity during the recent decades. The concept of medieval studies covers in fact a multitude of disciplines, some of them being loyal to their long-established traditions, whereas others are very new and borrow methods from other branches of the humanities or even from modern natural or social sciences. Since this means not only new possibilities but also new challenges, sources and methodology should obviously concern anyone engaged in the history and culture of the Middle Ages. Regardless of what aspects of the medieval world a scholar is dealing with, his or her study has much to gain from a source-pluralistic approach: in order to be able to understand and even combine different types of sources, a scholar must be aware of what methods are relevant and available and how they can be adapted and applied. This collection of essays presents a comprehensive overview of current and fresh approaches to the history of medieval Europe. The topics include, among other things, the complex relationship between the spoken and the written word, explorations in social and geographic space, layers and mental images perceivable in medieval texts, source edition techniques, relics as visual and tangible items, not to mention the possibilities offered by prosopography, zooarchaelogy and the natural sciences. Also the question and significance of ethics, an ever more important issue in present-day academic circles, is discussed. The contributors to this volume themselves form a very inter- and multidisciplinary team: although they can all be labeled as medievalists, they in fact they work within different disciplines and in several different research units in different countries. Geographically, several parts of Europe are covered in the essays – not only the westernmost part of the continent but also the poorly known eastern and northern parts as well. This diversity makes the collection worthwhile reading for students and scholars alike.

Working medievalists are often the only scholar of the Middle Ages in a department, a university, or a hundred-mile radius. While working to build a body of focused scholarly work, the lone medievalist is expected to be a generalist in the classroom and a contributing member of a campus community that rarely offers disciplinary community in return. As a result, overtasked and single medievalists often find it challenging to advocate for their work and field. As other responsibilities and expectations crowd in, we come to feel disconnected from the projects and subjects that sustain our intellectual passion. An insidious isolation even from one another creeps in, and soon, even attending a conference of fellow medievalists can become a lonely experience. Surrounded by scholars with greater institutional support, lower teaching loads, or more robust research agendas, we may feel alienated from our work - the work to which we've dedicated our careers. The Lone Medievalist (the collaborative community and the book) is intended as an antidote to the problem of professional isolation. It is offered in the spirit of common weal that marks the ideals (if not always the realities) of so many of the communities we study - agricultural, professional, national, notional, and of course, monastic. The Ballad of the Lone Medievalist isn't only about scholarship, or teaching, or institutional life, or the pursuit of new learning - it's about all of them. The essays in this volume address all aspects of the professional and intellectual life of medievalists. Though many of us acknowledge and address the challenges in being Lone Medievalists, these essays are not intended as voces clamantium; they are offered to provide strategies, camaraderie, and an occasional bit of inspiration. They are a call to action, a sharing of hard-won wisdom, and a helping hand - and, above all, a reminder that we are not alone.

Essays examining the complex intertwining and effect of medievalism on modernity - and vice versa.

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.

This book is the first of its kind to engage explicitly with the practice of conceptual history as it relates to the study of the Middle Ages, exploring the pay-offs and pitfalls of using concepts in medieval history. Concepts are indispensable to historians as a means of understanding past societies, but those concepts conjured in an effort to bring order to the infinite complexity of the past have a bad habit of taking on a life of their own and inordinately influencing historical interpretation. The most famous example is ‘feudalism’, whose fate as a concept is reviewed here by E.A.R. Brown nearly fifty years after her seminal article on the topic. The volume’s contributors offer a series of case studies of other concepts – 'colony', 'crisis', 'frontier', 'identity', 'magic', 'networks' and 'politics' – that have been influential, particularly among historians of Britain and Ireland in the later Middle Ages. The book explores the creative friction between historical ideas and analytical categories, and the potential for fresh and meaningful understandings to emerge from their dialogue.

An introduction to medievalism offering a balance of accessibility and sophistication, with comprehensive overviews as well as detailed case studies.

The articles in this volume, by scholars all pursuing careers in the United States, concern the theoretical approaches and methods of early medieval studies. Most of the issues examined span the period from roughly 400 to 1000 CE and regions stretching from westernmost Eurasia to the Black Sea and the Baltic. This is the first volume of essays explicitly to reassess the heuristic structures and methodologies of research on "early medieval Europe." Because of its geographic, chronological, thematic, and methodological diversity and scope, the collection also showcases the breadth of early medieval studies currently practiced in the United States.