Medievalism The Middle Ages in Modern England Michael Alexander

The style of the medieval period inhabits the bloodstream of western culture, and returned to dominate post-Enlightenment England. This one-volume history of the Medieval Revival as a whole is the first coherent account of its social, political, religious, architectural and artistic aspects, especially as these are expressed and reflected in literature. Its focus is on the period 1760 to 1971, with an Epilogue on the reverberations of medievalism in the present day. The rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster, after its destruction by fire in 1834, re-established Gothic as a national style. But medieval imitation manifests itself wherever one cares to look: in literature (Horace Walpole, Scott, Tennyson, Ruskin); in architecture (on campuses from Glasgow to Sydney to Yale, follies from Strawberry Hill to San Simeon, in churches, banks and railway stations); in the decorative arts (Pugin, William Morris, Eric Gill); religion (the Oxford Movement); politics (Guild Socialism and the trade union movement) and Hollywood (Braveheart, Robin Hood, and The Name of the Rose). In this skilled dissection of the components of this pervasive cultural movement, Michael Alexander rejects the idea that medievalism was confined to the Victorian period, and overturns the suspicion that it is by its nature escapist.

Michael Alexander was the Professor of English at the University of St Andrews. He is best known for his verse translations in Penguin Classics, The First Poems in English and Beowulf, and for his History of English Literature. He lives in Oxford.

"Alexander marshals his arguments with scholarship and wit. This is an intelligent, thoughtful and well-researched book. It is also very amusingly written, with marvellous throwaway remarks in every other line." - John Martin Robinson, The Literary Review

"A myriad of delicious plums in a richly illustrated pudding." - James Joll, The Spectator

"Thoughtful, full of fascinating insights and beautifully illustrated, this book wrestles with one of the great paradoxes of modern creativity." - Michael Kerrigan, The Scotsman

"This beautifully produced, generously illustrated book takes a panoramic view of the ‘recovery’ of the medieval in English literature, visual arts and culture, from the mid-eighteenth century to almost the present day. [It is] an ambitious, sweeping, sometimes idiosyncratic, but always interesting ‘essay in cultural history’… The book’s strengths are its wide range of knowledge lightly worn, some sharp insights and unusual juxtapositions … and [there are] a number of illuminating textual analyses, as when the author discusses the poetry of Scott or Hopkins or compares the ‘Morte d’Arthur’ of Tennyson with that of Malory." - Professor Rosemary Ashton, Times Literary Supplement

"Two extraordinary books have appeared this year, to the delight of those of us who are interested in the whole phenomenon. One, to my knowledge, is the first general survey of medievalism ... [plenty of] beautiful illustrations.... Like a good conversation, the book draws together all sorts of stray but related topics." - A.N. Wilson, Daily Telegraph