medievalism
Longing for knights
Medievalism is fascination with or imitation of the Middle Ages—its art, architecture, literature, or social structures.
The term covers both scholarly study of medieval culture and romantic revival movements: Victorian medievalism produced Gothic Revival churches across England.
It can also describe attitudes or practices seen as belonging to an earlier, less enlightened era: The policy was criticized as medievalism.
Chivalric romantic ideal
- troubadourMedieval Provençal lyric poet
- minstrelTraveling performer of songs
- balladNarrative poem or song
- chansonFrench vocal composition
tale · amour · knight-errant · damsel · castle · battlement · potion · quest
Honorary title of nobility
- gallantryCourage, especially in combat
- honorHigh regard, moral dignity
- valorCourage in danger
- courtesyRespectful, considerate behavior
jousting · tournament · armour · lance · paladin · squire · escutcheon · steed
Decorative woven wall cloth
- meadHoney-fermented alcoholic drink
- banquetFormal celebratory meal
- gobletStemmed drinking vessel
- blacksmithIron-shaping craftsperson
apothecary · guild · marketplace · thatched roof · keep · moat · drawbridge · portcullis
Landed aristocratic residence
- serfdomFeudal bound labor
- vassalLand-holding sworn subordinate
- liegeFeudal superior or subject
- fiefGranted feudal estate
suzerain · peasantry · tithe · demesne · knight-service · homage · overlord · bailiff
Victorian artists emulating earlier masters
- William MorrisVictorian pattern designer
- Gothic RevivalArchitectural return to medieval forms
- Romantic nationalismCultural revival serving sovereignty
- historicismEra determines truth claims
Bishop's principal church
- flying buttressExternal arch transferring thrust
- pointed archArch with angled apex
- stained glassColored window art
- vaultSecure storage chamber
gargoyle · turret · spire · tracery · rose window · cloister · apse · pinnacle
Rigorous dialectical learning method
- theologyStudy of the divine
- AquinasScholastic philosopher-theologian surname
- triviumFoundational verbal arts trio
- disputationFormal argumentative exchange
summa · universals · manuscript · scriptorium · illumination · parchment · codex · monastic
courtly love
Chivalric romantic ideal
- troubadourMedieval Provençal lyric poet
- minstrelTraveling performer of songs
- balladNarrative poem or song
chanson · tale · amour · knight-errant · damsel · castle · battlement · potion · quest · lay
knighthood
Honorary title of nobility
courtesy · jousting · tournament · armour · lance · paladin · squire · escutcheon · steed · duel
tapestry
Decorative woven wall cloth
blacksmith · apothecary · guild · marketplace · thatched roof · keep · moat · drawbridge · portcullis · great hall
manor
Landed aristocratic residence
fief · suzerain · peasantry · tithe · demesne · knight-service · homage · overlord · bailiff · reeve
Pre-Raphaelite
Victorian artists emulating earlier masters
- William MorrisVictorian pattern designer
- Gothic RevivalArchitectural return to medieval forms
- Romantic nationalismCultural revival serving sovereignty
Walter Scott · historicism · Tennyson · Ruskin · Renaissance faire
cathedral
Bishop's principal church
- flying buttressExternal arch transferring thrust
- pointed archArch with angled apex
- stained glassColored window art
vault · gargoyle · turret · spire · tracery · rose window · cloister · apse · pinnacle · grotesque
scholasticism
Rigorous dialectical learning method
- theologyStudy of the divine
- AquinasScholastic philosopher-theologian surname
- triviumFoundational verbal arts trio
disputation · summa · universals · manuscript · scriptorium · illumination · parchment · codex · monastic · cloister
Camelot
Legendary British royal seat
Lancelot · Guinevere · Avalon · Morgan le Fay · quest · Galahad · Lady of the Lake · Mordred · Gawain · Percival
- medievalknights, castles, cathedral, kings, queens
- Medieval revivalTudor revival, Ruskin, Houses of Parliament, Neuschwanstein
- Romantic LiteraturePride and Prejudice, Jane Austen, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Emma
- Romantic PoetryWordsworth, Keats, William Wordsworth, Shelley, Coleridge
- German RomanticismHoffmann, blue flower, Brothers Grimm, creative imagination, lieder
- Pre-Raphaelite ArtOphelia, Pandora, Isabella, Mariana, oil paintings
medievalismmodernism
Favoring contemporary approaches
futurism · contemporaneity · classicism · neoclassicism · antiquarianism
medievalismprogressivism
Philosophy advocating societal reform
modernization · industrialism · rationalism · secularism · reformism
medievalismmodernism
Favoring contemporary approaches
modernist design · functionalism · minimalism · industrialism · Bauhaus