medievalists: any others out there?

i'm focusing heavily on medieval western religious life at the moment - particularly heresy, but also the general interaction between spiritual and temporal realms.

i never ever thought i'd enjoy medieval studies... it just seemed to be the stereotypical dusty-elbowed historians' genre of choice. i think it was evelyn waugh who said that the best way of avoiding talking to someone at a dinner party was to tell them you were a medievalist

but really, i find the subject matter immensely enjoyable. it's so decidely different from our modern experiences; it's possible to see precursors that hint at the way our societies would eventually evolve. after moving from a country that has a 'white' recorded history of about 216 years to england, i've found medievalism took on a new relevance; when you realise that the tiny abbey down the road is actually a 13th century cistercian centre which was involved in all sorts of high political intrigue; or realising that the House of Commons is where Simon de Montfort actually stood and spoke way back when we were first enjoying imperial adventures in the middle east...

part of the attraction, i guess, is also the 'Lord of the Rings Factor'. tolkein was a medievalist; and when you're reading thousand-year old texts describing the intricacies of feudal power relations, the inspiration for much of his work is clearly apparent. this was a period of strange names - Amalric, Odalric, Theodatus, Anselm, Ademar, Everwach - and strange societies - the Occitan 'nation', the Spiritual Franciscans, Bogomils and Cathars... it's chock full of intrigue, power, madness, death, and beauty. we have heroes and villains, kings and queens and castellans and mercenaries; we have dissidents and protestors and persecutors, and most interesting of all is how easily we can identify with people who's words have echoed for a thousand years...

does anyone else out there do any medieval study?

I think tolkien's inspiration had more to do with mythology.. The greek epos, Chanson de Roland, Nibelung Saga, Edda and so forth.. but yeah, he was totally into medieval stuff also..

I used to play wild LARPs before I came to US, so I did a lot of reading and research on the matter, but due to the fact that these games really were wild and had very few rules to them, a fucked up shoulder injury forced me to stop doing this shit and stay away Good times.. kinda irrelevant, but the point is that i still enjoy medieval studies quite a bit

I'm studying some medieval literature currently. I'm an English major, so I'm doing it primarily to contextualize the more modern literature I've been reading. It's definitely more interesting then I thought it would be, and I'm sure when you extensively study the history of the period it reveals all kinds of fascinating intricacies. I doubt I'll pursue it as a course of specialized study, but it's something I'm interested in. Though it's true that very few people (especially in the US) share an interest in anything that happened more than fifteen minutes ago.

You know I would chime in if I could, Seuss, but I'm more of a Late Antiquity / early Byzantinist myself...

i studied jewish history for some time, and my professor (daniel frank) was a jewish medievalist... he had us read some jewish poetry from the period, warrior-poet sort of stuff. i've always been interested in the period, but i've never made an active interest in the real history of the period... my historical focus has always been on roman empire/second temple period.

i think the subject matter is cool. however my area of study prevents me from taking on too many classes that dont contribute directly to my degree.

I wouldn't be able to dedicate studies toward it, but for my casual job I actually work in a Medieval Store, selling swords and armour.


It is the awesomest!11!!

Now...get jealous!

I have done an honours thesis on textual issues in Chaucer, as well as a course in Medieval Women Writers. Fascinating!! The issues involved in reading medieval literature are so very different from those of more modern literature. I find textual difficulties encountered when studying medieval literature to be particularly fascinating!

*gratuitous boasting bump*

on thursday i held in my hands the book which was used in the coronation of William the Conqueror. it also features in the Bayeux tapestry. and i held it, touched the pages, felt the binding, ran my fingers over the spine... also had a chance to study illuminations in a 10th century book. to feel the parchment, to see where the scribe had exorcised errors, to smell the pages... fuck, for a history geek this is hardcore pornography of the filthiest germanic variety :D

in the room i was sat in - the Parker Library at Corpus Christi college - are stored 1/4 of all anglo-saxon books. it was fucking AMAZING.

That's awesome.

dr seuss said:

*gratuitous boasting bump*

on thursday i held in my hands the book which was used in the coronation of William the Conqueror. it also features in the Bayeux tapestry. and i held it, touched the pages, felt the binding, ran my fingers over the spine... also had a chance to study illuminations in a 10th century book. to feel the parchment, to see where the scribe had exorcised errors, to smell the pages... fuck, for a history geek this is hardcore pornography of the filthiest germanic variety :D

in the room i was sat in - the Parker Library at Corpus Christi college - are stored 1/4 of all anglo-saxon books. it was fucking AMAZING.

Click to expand...

Yeah, you pretty much know you are a dork if you read this and said to yourself, "That's really cool and sounds like an awesome way to spend a day." Which, coincidentally, is what I was thinking. Damn it! I'm a dork!

Yay I am SOOOOO a dork!

My diehard Catholic medieval culture professor ruined the genre for me. And since his interpretation was disinteresting, I got cornered into not liking the whole subject in general after a little research of my own. I'm sorry, but those scanty primary sources are so dry..

I took a class about the Islamic World during the Middle Ages. Now that was some cool shit! The class was at 9am and whenever we were falling alseep, my prof. would yell, "ALLAH IS GREAT!" in Arabic and we'd all jump.

It was the best class ever. :D