Entry requirements

A Bachelor’s degree equivalent to 180 credits with a major (90 credits) in a subject relevant to Historical Studies, such as Ethnology, Archaeology, Comparative Literature, History of Ideas, or Religious Studies.

Main field

No main field of study

Progression level in relation to degree requirements

No mainfield

Course contents

The course enables students to deepen their understanding of the relationship between the medieval past and contemporary society by analysing how the Middle Ages has been interpreted, reinterpreted and utilised from the 19th century to the present day. Central to the course is the study of the changing perceptions that different eras, societies and cultural contexts have attributed to the Middle Ages, and how these perceptions have reflected their respective historical contexts. The course examines how the Middle Ages has served as a point of reference in popular culture as well as in political ideologies, social movements and identity-forming practices. Emphasis is placed on the presence of the Middle Ages in modern media such as film, television series, computer games, role-playing games and fantasy, where students analyse how aesthetic, narrative and value-based constructions of ‘the medieval’ are shaped and circulated in the present day. The course also examines how historical timeframes – the past, present and future – are utilised and negotiated in cultural and political contexts. Through theoretical perspectives drawn from cultural studies, the use of history, reception studies and memory studies, students are given the opportunity to develop their skills in critically analysing how the past is mobilised for various social, cultural, religious and political purposes. The course includes an advanced analysis of historical narratives and the use of history, and students practise identifying the ideological, aesthetic and discursive dimensions of how the Middle Ages is conceived and represented in both academic and non-academic contexts. Through independent projects, students are also given the opportunity to develop their ability to apply relevant theoretical and methodological approaches to empirical material from various media and areas of society.

Learning outcomes

After completing the module, the student will be able to:

1. critically analyse and evaluate modern perceptions of the Middle Ages, and describe how these representations have changed from the 19th century to the present day,

2. independently investigate and theoretically explore the temporal relationship between the past, the present and the future,

3. critically reflect on how different kinds of conceptions of the Middle Ages have been used in modern times and the consequences thereof

Learning activities

The course is conducted through lectures, seminars, webinars and group work.

Assessment

All learning outcomes are assessed through a portfolio.

Assessment criteria will be announced by the course leader at the start of the course.

For all assessments, the basis must be such that individual performance can be distinguished.

Course literature and other study materials

Alvestad, Karl C. (2020). *Middle Ages in Modern Culture: History and Authenticity in Contemporary Medievalism, London: *Bloomsbury Publishing, 225 pages

Cantor, Norman F. (1991*). Inventing the Middle Ages: The Lives, Works, and Ideas of the Great Medievalists of the Twentieth Century*. New York: W. Morrow, s 17-47, 30 pages

D'Arcens, Louise (red.) (2016). The Cambridge Companion to Medievalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Individual selection in consultation with the course leader, 100 pages

Dinshaw, Carolyn (2012*). How Soon is Now? Medieval Texts, Amateur Readers, and the Queerness of Time*. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Individual selection in consultation with the course leader, 40 pages

Elliott, Andrew B. R. (2017). Medievalism, Politics and Mass Media: Appropriating the Middle Ages in the Twenty-first Century. Woodbridge, Suffolk: D.S. Brewer. Individual selection in consultation with the course leader, 30 pages

Emery, Elizabeth & Utz, Richard (2014). Medievalism: Key Critical Terms. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer. Individual selection in consultation with the course leader, 20 pages

Fitzpatrick, KellyAnn (2019). *"Neomedievalism, Popular Culture, and the Academy: From Tolkien to Game of Thrones", *Cambridge: D S. Brewer, 195 pages

Kaufman, Amy & Sturtevant, Paul S, (2020). The Devil’s Historians: How Modern Extremists Abuse the Medieval Past. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 186 pages

Larrington, Carolyne (2015). Winter is Coming: The Medieval World of Game of Thrones. London: Tauris, 250 pages

Matthews, David (2017). Medievalism: A Critical History. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 184 pages

Pugh, Tison & Weisl, Angela Jane (2023). Medievalisms: Making the Past in the Present. Routledge: London, 150 pages

Sturtevant, Paul B. (2018). The Middle Ages in Popular Imagination: Memory, Film and Medievalism. London: Tauris. Individual selection in consultation with the course leader, 30 pages

Utz, Richard J. (2017). Medievalism: A Manifesto. Kalamazoo: ARC Humanities Press, 90 pages

Wollenberg, Daniel (2018). Medieval Imagery in Today's Politics. Leeds: Arc Humanities Press, 90 pages

Young, Victoria (red.) (2025). Fantasy and Science-fiction Medievalisms: From Isaac Asimov to a Game of Thrones. New York: Cambria Press. Individual selection in consultation with the course leader, 100 pages.

Course evaluation

Malmö University provides students who participate in, or who have completed a course, with the opportunity to express their opinions and describe their experiences of the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarise the results of course evaluations. The University will also inform participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures taken in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).

Interim rules

If a course is no longer offered, or has undergone significant changes, the students must be offered two opportunities for re-examination based on the syllabus that applied at the time of registration, for a period of one year after the changes have been implemented. The syllabus is a translation of a Swedish source text.

Additional information

If a student has a Learning support decision, the examiner has the right to provide the student with an adapted test, or to allow the student to take the exam in a different format. The syllabus is a translation of a Swedish source text.