21st Century Medievalisms

Karl Christian Alvestad has been, since August 2018, an Associate Professor in Social Studies at the Department of Culture, Religion and Social Studies, University of South-Eastern Norway. He completed his PhD in History at the University of Winchester, UK, in 2016. His thesis ""Kings, Heroes and Ships: The Use of Historical Characters in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Perceptions of the Early Medieval Scandinavian Past"" looked at the use of Viking Age history in the development of Norwegian national identity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His research focuses on the role of medievalism in politics and culture in Scandinavia, as well as early medieval political culture in Norway, and the cult of St. Olaf. Among Karl Christian's most recent works is a chapter called "The 'Accurate' Deeds of Our Father: The 'Authentic' Narrative of Early Norway" (2021) discussing the construction of authenticity in contemporary Norwegian medievalisms, and an article titled "Mainstream Norwegian Medievalism in the Twenty-first Century Continuity and Change in Narrative and Form" (2021) which explores the evolving forms and content of contemporary Norwegian medievalisms.

• INTRODUCTION by Karl Christian Alvestad CHAPTER 1. Medievalist Comic Book Characters and Their Feminist Readers —Elizabeth Allyn WoockCHAPTER 2. Are Pigs Pink? Cinematic Perceptions of the Medieval Past —Francis MickusCHAPTER 3. Re-imagining Historical Fighting: Knights in Medievalism —Jürg GassmannCHAPTER 4. Dark Medieval Times: Violence and Darkness in Black-Metal Medievalism —Dario CapelliCHAPTER 5. Crusading as Damnation, Killing for Salvation Crusading Ideology and Ludonarrative Dissonance in Dante's Inferno —Juan Manuel Rubio ArévaloCHAPTER 6. French Cultural Exception: When King Arthur Does Not Cross the Borders —Justine BretonCHAPTER 7. The Witcher: Visions of a Shifting Europe —Meg FellerCHAPTER 8. Medieval Love Through Centuries from Far East to Far West in Romanesque, by Tonino Benacquista —Leticia Ding, Philippe Frieden, Stefania Maffei BoillatCHAPTER 9. Medievalism, Philosophers, and Medievalists in the Twenty-First Century in Peru: From the Forgotten Image to New Perspectives —Jean Christian EgoavilCHAPTER 10. The Use of Political Neomedievalism in Spain —Álvaro Garrote PascualCHAPTER 11. The Black Veil of Freedom: Widows Beyond Westeros —Dawn A. Seymour KlosCHAPTER 12. The Frozen Middle Ages: Elsa as a Contemporary Joan of Arc? —Andrea MaraschiCHAPTER 13. Beyond the Bounds of Camelot and Hogwarts: The Medieval Quest Becomes Political Activism Through Harry Potter —Monica J. Stenzel, Josephine C. StenzelCHAPTER 14. Memories of the Medieval in the Age of White Supremacy —Leland Renato Grigoli