Elizabeth Emery & Richard Utz 
Medievalism: Key Critical Terms 

The discipline of medievalism has produced a great deal of scholarship acknowledging the ‘makers’ of the Middle Ages: those who re-discovered the period from 500 to 1500 by engaging with its cultural works, seeking inspiration from them, or fantasizing about them. Yet such approaches – organized by time period, geography, or theme – often lack an overarching critical framework. This volume aims to provide such a framework, by calling into question the problematic yet commonly accepted vocabulary used in Medievalism Studies. The contributions, by leading scholars in the field, define and exemplify in a lively and accessible style the essential terms used when speaking of the later reception of medieval culture.


The terms: Archive, Authenticity, Authority, Christianity, Co-disciplinarity, Continuity, Feast, Genealogy, Gesture, Gothic, Heresy, Humor, Lingua, Love, Memory, Middle, Modernity, Monument, Myth, Play, Presentism, Primitive, Purity, Reenactment, Resonance, Simulacrum, Spectacle, Transfer, Trauma, Troubadour


Elizabeth Emery is Professor of French and Graduate Coordinator at Montclair State University (Montclair, NJ, USA); Richard Utz is Chair and Professor of Medievalism Studies in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Tech (Atlanta, GA, USA).


Contributors: Nadia Altschul, Martin Arnold, Kathleen Biddick, William C. Calin, Martha Carlin, Pam Clements, Michael Cramer, Louise D’Arcens, Elizabeth Emery, Elizabeth Fay, Vincent Ferré, Matthew Fisher, Karl Fugelso, Jonathan Hsy, Amy S. Kaufman, Nadia Margolis, David Matthews, Lauryn S. Mayer, Brent Moberly, Kevin Moberly, Gwendolyn Morgan, Laura Morowitz, Kevin D. Murphy, Nils Holger Petersen, Lisa Reilly, Edward Risden, Carol L. Robinson, Juanita Feros Ruys, Tom Shippey, Clare A. Simmons, Zrinka Stahuljak, M. Jane Toswell, Richard Utz, Angela Jane Weisl.

Table of Content

Making Medievalism: A Critical Overview – Elizabeth Emery and Richard Utz

Archive – Matthew Fisher

Authenticity – Pamela Clements

Authority – Gwendolyn Morgan

Christianity – William Calin

Co-Disciplinarity – Jonathan Hsy

Continuity –

Feast – Martha Carlin

Genealogy – Zrinka Stahuljak

Gesture – Carol L. Robinson

Gothic – Kevin Murphy and Lisa Reilly

Heresy – Nadia Margolis

Humor – Clare A Simmons

Lingua – M J Toswell

Love – Juanita Feros Ruys

Memory – Vincent Ferre

Middle – David Matthews

Modernity – Tom Shippey

Monument – E L Risden

Myth – Martin Arnold

Play – Brent Moberly and Kevin Moberly

Presentism – Louise D’Arcens

Primitive – Laura Morowitz

Purity – Amy S. Kaufman

Reenactment – Michael A Cramer

Resonance – Nils Holger Petersen

Simulacrum – Lauryn S. Mayer

Spectacle – Angela Jane Weisl

Transfer – Nadia Altschul

Trauma – Kathleen Biddick

Troubadour – Elizabeth Fay

About the author

DAVID MATTHEWS is Professor of Medieval and Medievalism Studies in the English Department at the University of Manchester.