Medieval film explores theoretical questions about the ideological, artistic, emotional and financial investments inhering in cinematic renditions of the medieval period. What does it mean to create and watch a 'medieval film'? What is a medieval film and why are they successful? This is the first work that attempts to answer these questions, drawing, for instance, on film theory, postcolonial theory, cultural studies and the growing body of work on medievalism. Contributors investigate British, German, Italian, Australian, French, Swedish and American film, exploring topics such translation, temporality, film noir, framing and period film - and find the medieval lurking in inexpected corners. In addition it provides in-depth studies of individual films from different countries including The Birth of a Nation to Nosferatu, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Medieval Film will be of interest to medievalists working in disciplines including literature, history, to scholars working on film and in cultural studies. It will also be of interest to undergraduates, postgraduates and to an informed enthusiast in film or/and medieval culture. -- .

Identifies and analyzes thematizations of women and death from the past five centuries, illuminating the present and recent past. The theme of women and death is pervasive in the German culture of the past five centuries. With the conviction that only an interdisciplinary approach can explore a typology as far-reaching and significant as this, and in accordance with the feminist tenet that images are accountable for norms, this volume investigates how iconic representations of women and death came about and why they endure. Traditionally, representations of women as agents of death -- when they have been considered at all -- have been considered separately from women as victims, as though there was no shared thematic ground. Here, familiar depictions of female victims are examined alongside the more unsettling spectacle of women as killers, exposing cultural assumptions. Essays explore, among others, the themes of virgin sacrifice and female infanticides, "Death and the Maiden" in art, female vampires in literature, and women killersin the media. Others compare cultural practices such as female mourning across historical contexts, examining change and the reasons for it. The authors' judgments eschew the simplistic and programmatic, contributing not just to current research in German literature, but also to understanding of cultural history in general. Contributors: Stephanie Knoell, Ruth B. Bottigheimer, Anna Linton, Bettina Bildhauer, Mary Lindemann, Helen Fronius, Anna Richards, Jurgen Barkhoff, Lawrence Kramer, Kathrin Hoffmann-Curtius, Clare Bielby, Gisela Ecker. Anna Linton is Lecturer in German at Kings College London, and Helen Fronius is an AHRC Research Fellow and College Lecturer at Exeter College Oxford.

The view generally adopted in earlier German literary studies saw the 12th century as an undisputed age of ground-breaking innovation, whereas the 13th century was generally regarded as an age of 'decline', of political and literary 'downfall'. However, recent developments in literary theory and the history of tradition have increasingly queried this periodicity. In Germany there was in fact no appreciable upsurge of lay culture before 1170 and it was not until the 13th century that the vernacular found its way into almost all areas of literary communication. Foregrounding the innovative impetus of the 13th century over and against older periodicities was the aim of the Cambridge symposium. The papers given there are assembled in this volume.

This book explores theoretical questions about the ideological, artistic, emotional, and financial investments inhering in cinematic renditions of the medieval period. What does it mean to create and watch a "medieval film"? What is a medieval film and why are they successful?

This is the first work that attempts to answer these questions, drawing, for instance, on film theory, postcolonial theory, cultural studies, and the growing body of work on medievalism. Contributors investigate British, German, Italian, Australian, French, Swedish, and American film, exploring topics such translation, temporality, film noir, framing, and period film, and find the medieval lurking in unexpected corners. In addition, it provides in-depth studies of individual films from different countries including "The Birth of a Nation" to "Nosferatu," and "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves."

"Medieval Film" will be of interest to medievalists working in disciplines including literature, history, and art history, and to scholars working on film and in cultural studies. It will also be of interest to undergraduates, postgraduates, and to an informed enthusiast in film and/or medieval culture.