Download or read book Medievalism and the Quest for the Real Middle Ages written by Clare A. Simmons and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-01-11 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Medievalism, the later reception of the Middle Ages, has been used by many writers, not just during the Victorian period but from the Renaissance to the present, as a means of commenting on their own societies and systems of values. Until recently, this self-interest was used to distinguish between Medievalism, a selective, often romanticised, view of the past, and medieval studies, with its quest for an authentic Middle Ages. The essays in this collection suggest that the search for knowledge of a "real" Middle Ages has always been a problematic one, and that the vitality of the vision of Medievalism is demonstrated by its constant adaption to current concerns.