How ideas and ideals of an imagined, protean, national Middle Ages have
once again become a convergence point for anxieties about politics,
history and cultural identity in our time - and why.
After a period of abeyance, the link forged in the nineteenth century
between the Middle Ages and national identity is increasingly being
reclaimed, with numerous groups and individuals mining an imagined
medieval past to present ideas and ideals of modern nationhood. Today's
national medievalism asserts itself at the interface of culture and
politics: in literature and television programming, in journalism and
heritage tourism, and in the way political actors of various stripes use
a deep past that supposedly proves the nation's steady exceptionalism in
a hectic globalised world.
This book traces these ongoing developments in Switzerland and Britain,
two countries where the medieval past has recently been much invoked in
negotiations of national identity, independence and Euroscepticism.
Through comparative analysis, it explores examples of reemerging stories
of national exceptionalism - stories that, ironically, echo those of
other nations. The author analyses depictions of Robert the Bruce and
Wilhelm Tell; medievalism in the discourse surrounding Brexit as well as
at the Welsh Senedd; novels like Paul Kingsnorth's The Wake;
community-based art such as the Great Tapestry of Scotland; and
elaborate public commemorations of Swiss victories (and defeats) in
battle. Basing his critical readings in current theories of cultural
memory, heritage and nationalism, the author explores how the protean
national Middle Ages have once again become a convergence point for
anxieties about politics, history and cultural identity in our time -
and why.
