Description
Book SynopsisThe Middle Ages, in our cultural imagination, are besieged with ideas of wars, tournaments, plagues, saints and kings, knights, lords and ladies. In his era-defining work, Inventing the Middle Ages, Norman Cantor shows that these presuppositions are in fact constructs of the twentieth century. Through close study of the lives and works of twenty of the twentieth century''s most prominent medievalists, Cantor examines how the genesis of this fantasy arose in the scholars'' spiritual and emotional outlooks, which influenced their portrayals of the Middle Ages. In the course of this vigorous scrutiny of their scholarship, he navigates the strong personalities and creative minds involved with deft skill.Written with both students and the general public in mind, Inventing the Middle Ages provided an alternative framework for the teaching of the humanities. Revealing the interconnection between medieval civilisation, the culture of the twentieth century and our own assumptions, Cantor provid
Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgements Credo 1. The Quest for the Middle Ages 2. Law and Society: Frederick William Maitland 3. The Nazi Twins: Percy Ernst Schramm and Ernst Hartwig Kantorowicz 4. The French Jews: Louis Halphen and Marc Bloch 5. The Formalists: Erwin Panofsky and Ernst Robert Curtius 6. The Oxford Fantasists: Clive Stephen Lewis, John Ronal Revel Tolkien, and Frederick Maurice Powicke 7. American Pie: Charles Homer Haskins and Joseph Reese Strayer 8. After the Fall: Michael David Knowles and Étienne Henry Gilson 9. The Once and Future King: Richard William Southern 10. Outriders: Johan Huizinga, Eileen Edna Power, Michael MoisseyPostan, Carl Erdmann, and Theodor Ernst Mommsen Notes A Core Bibliography in Medieval Studies Index
