Essays on the post-modern reception and interpretation of the Middle Ages, This volume continues the theme of its predecessor, addressing how the Middle Ages have been invoked to score political points, particularly with reference to the rise of populism fueled by recent recessions and a pandemic. The nine essays in the first portion of the volume directly address political medievalism in Tariq Ali's 2005 novel on Mideast instability, A Sultan in Palermo; attempts by twentieth-century Czech politicians to anchor their causes in the fifteenth-century Czech hero Petr Chelcicky; far-right deployment of Robin Hood memes to slander Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama; the ways Rory Mullarkey's 2017 play Saint George and the Dragon comments onEnglish national identity relative to Brexit; how national stereotypes have come into play amid cross-channel reporting on Brexit; nationalism in the medievalizing German monument to their fallen at the 1942 Battle of El Alamein;the English-speaking world's reception of Anthony Munday's 1589 book on conduct, Palmendos; nationalism in the self-characterization of two contemporary British Pagan movements; and how various communities in the television series Game of Thrones comment on medieval and/or contemporary nations. Nor are politics entirely absent from the final four articles in the volume, as they examine attempts to promote such particular agendas as toxic masculinity in Game of Thrones; misogyno-feminism there and in the George R.R. Martin book series on which the television program is based, A Song of Ice and Fire; the potential for audience self-realization amid the tension between the individual and the collective in The Mere Wife, Maria Dahvana Headley's 2018 adaptation of Beowulf; and ideal individual and collective behavior as modeled in the Ringling Brothers' 1912-13 spectacles about Joan of Arc.

Fighting the Antichrist analyzes the discourse against Catholicism from the breach from Rome in 1534 until the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. Cultural representations of Catholicism were decisive in creating and moulding the perceptions that many Englishmen had of the new Anglican Church and its alleged enemies. Such perceptions were essential not only in promoting policies against English Catholics, but in shaping English national identity. Anti-Catholic propaganda elaborated a stereotype of the Catholic that converged with other negative cultural types common in the period, such as that of the lazy, lecherous monk, the cruel Spaniard, the seductive and deceitful Jesuit and the Machiavellian schemer (the last three enjoying special popularity in the second half of the Elizabethan period). These stereotypes allowed anti-Catholics to send a clear message to their Protestant countrymen: that Catholicism was a devilish, corrupt foreign power that could undermine the most basic pillars of English society their Church and State. Dr Alvarez-Recio explores a wide number of texts of different genres in order to determine their contribution to the aforementioned cultural image of the Roman Catholic Church in England. Special attention is paid to political and doctrinal plays and pamphlets, given their appeal to different social groups and their role in creating a new public opinion. Other kinds of material that are also considered include chronicles and private letters, fragments of royal proclamations, and descriptions of royal entries and coronations. All these texts offer a wide spectrum of responses to the Catholic question and assist in understanding the role of anti-Catholic discourse in royal iconography. Originally published in Spanish by Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, the volume provides an inter-disciplinary approach, addressing issues such as the formation of public opinion, the influence of imperial discourse, and the overriding role of religion in nationalist issues.

This volume contains the first critical edition of The Honourable, Pleasant and Rare Conceited Historie of Palmendos (London, 1589), a chivalric romance translated into English by Anthony Munday. The original text, Primaleon de Grecia I (Salamanca, 1512), soon became a best-seller on the Spanish market and was translated into many continental languages. Munday's translation derives from the French version by Francois de Vernassal (1550). It comprises the first thirty-two chapters of the French text and focuses on the adventures of Palmendos on his journey to Constantinople. This is an original-spelling edition that produces a text as close as possible to Munday's original manuscript.

This is the first critical edition of The Honourable, Pleasant and Rare Conceited Historie of Palmendos (London, 1589), a chivalric romance translated into English by Anthony Munday. The original text, Primaleon de Grecia I (Salamanca, 1512), soon became a bestseller on the Spanish market and was translated into many continental European languages. Munday's translation derives from the French version by Francois de Vernassal (1550). It comprises the first thirty-two chapters of the French text and focuses on the adventures of Palmendos on his journey to Constantinople. Anthony Munday died in 1633 at the age of seventy-three. He left behind a long career as a poet, playwright, author of civic pageantry, chronicle writer, pamphleteer and translator that made him one of the most versatile and prolific authors of his age. A controversial figure in his own time, he worked as a spy for Elizabeth's government and wrote and translated works of religious controversy as well as pamphlets on contemporary European politics. This is an original-spelling edition that produces a text as close as possible to Munday's original manuscript.