Dr. David Matthews, senior lecturer in Middle English at the University of Manchester, started the evening with a talk on "Industrious Medievalism" –– not only the medievalism of the Industrial Revolution, but also medievalism in structures and things that are functional, such as the Woodhead train tunnel pictured above. Dr. Matthews explained his interest in the ethics of medievalism –– whether it was liberating, revolutionary, conservative, nostalgic –– its promotion of certain values, and its ability to be of use to people.
Dr. Matthews reminded us to be aware of the anachronism inherent in a train tunnel designed to look like a medieval tower; the steam engine, which looks outdated to us, would have looked distinctly modern to a mid-19th century viewer, and probably very much at odds with the tunnel from which it's emerging. But the tunnel serves a purpose: it deflects attention from the modernity of the train running through it. The crenelated tower is part of a reassuring, nostalgic idiom; as Dr. Matthews pointed out, we tend to find more humanity in anything that came before a given, disliked trend (see: some Baby Boomers' dislike of Millenial use of technology to communicate and date). But medievalism has more to do with modern perceptions and values than with actual medieval cultural artifacts; the Derwent Dam, built in 1916, drowned two actual medieval villages, but imitates a medieval fortress in design:
Dr. Matthews then turned to the ethics of medievalism. Medievalism, with its hearkening back to monarchical and feudal forms of social organization, provides an alternative set of ethics to capitalism; it's bound up, too, with green ethics, supposedly gesturing towards a time when man lived in greater harmony with nature. Its nostalgic idealism, however, is essentially conservative. Such great names as Tolkien, Lewis, and Morris gestured toward such idealism in their works (for a good example of Tolkien's ideas about industry, check out the unsavory descriptions of Saruman's iron forges). But Dr. Matthews argued that medievalism doesn't always bear the kind of moral weight artists, authors, and politicians place on it; it has no inherent moral utility. Indeed, medievalism, by its nature, cannot resolve the questions and problems of progress –– technological and otherwise –– because it is essentially concerned with reiterating the past.
Dr. Carolyne Larrington, a Teaching Fellow of St. John's College here at Oxford, discussed a specific, and very successful, example of medievalism: the hugely popular TV series Game of Thrones, based on the book series A Song of Ice and Fire. Your friendly webmaster will, of course, write about this topic with complete objectivity, because she is in no way invested in the series and is certainly not awaiting April with bated breath, freaking out about whether Jon Snow is dead and eagerly anticipating Tyrion's next move.
Dr. Larrington argued that one of the great successes of George R. R. Martin's books lies in the author's structural understanding of how medieval societies work –– or don't, as the case may be. The strengths of the world of Game of Thrones lie in the cultures of Westeros: King's Landing is a portrait of a late medieval city, with a well-developed court culture, crafts industries, and public markets. "But where is the civil service in King's Landing?" Dr. Larrington asked. "Who's policing the streets? Where are the lawyers?
Winterfell, on the other hand, seems to mimic an Anglo-Saxon kingdom: highly militarized, lacking in the chivalric court culture of the Red Keep, and dependent upon the personal loyalty of retainers and bannermen to their lord. The Ironborn have been compared to the Vikings, but, as Dr. Larrington noted, bear more similarities to the popular image of Vikings than to actual Scandinavian peoples of the Middle Ages. The Dothraki are based on Mongol society under Genghis Khan, with a capital city (Vaes Dothrak in Essos, Karakorum in the Övörkhangai province of Mongolia) famed as a thriving cultural centre improbably placed in the middle of a desert. However, Dr. Larrington counts Essos as a failure in the Game of Thrones universe, due to the obvious Orientalism in its presentation.
Dr. Larrington pointed out the ways in which Game of Thrones is concerned with social organization, and the practicalities of medieval communities and proto-states: the Iron Bank of Braavos draws the viewer's attention to the economic underpinning of the the relationship between Westeros and Essos, and the monetary cost of kingship. The rise of the "Sparrows" in King's Landing addresses the balance of power between church and state, and the relationship of the monarch to religious institutions. Indeed, much of Game of Thrones is devoted to interrogating how kingship, good and bad, works; Aragorn, as Larrington wittily noted, wasn't required to have a tax policy. Religion, too, is questioned in the world of Game of Thrones: the miracles of R'hllor may be real, but his priests inspire terror.
Dr. Larrington pointed out the ways in which Game of Thrones is concerned, too, with power struggles –– noting that Petyr Baelish, one-time Master of Coin and the closest thing King's Landing has to a civil servant, is similar to a certain Geoffrey Chaucer in his initially quiet political rise, and that Martin addresses power imbalances in the world of gender, looking at the particular, and often highly dangerous, challenges of being a woman in the sorts of societies that populate Westeros. It also deals with the possibility of redemption, by refusing to engage in black and white morality. Game of Thrones may, however, ultimately be successful because the medieval world is what Dr. Larrington called a 'familiar other' to us: a culturally accepted backdrop for fantasy stories. We owe many of our institutions –– European statehood, universities, romantic love –– to the Middle Ages. The romantic, chivalric dream of late-medieval courts, knights and tourneys is certainly still alive in our culture; brutal warrior societies (complete with sidelined female characters) have recently been made popular by shows like Vikings and The Last Kingdom. Popular-culture medievalism certainly won't be disappearing any time soon.
Next up? A graduate student presentation day to kick off Trinity Term, followed by our Trinity Term Meeting on Global History, in partnership with the Byzantine Society! Keep an eye on our blog, Facebook group, and Twitter for updates.
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