Constructing the Middle Ages

Pit Péporté is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Luxembourg. He is co-author of Inventing Luxembourg (Brill, 2010) and has co-edited Renaissance? Perceptions of Continuity and Discontinuity in Europe c.1300-c.1550 (Brill, 2010).

• List of Illustrations and TablesAcknowledgementsIntroduction1. Historiography2. Collective Memory and Lieux de Mémoire3. The Structure of this BookChapter One. Sigefroid: The Founding Father1. The First Count of Luxembourg2. The Forgotten: Conrad I3. Sigefroid the Builder of the Castle4. Sigefroid the Builder of the City5. Sigefroid as a Legendary Figure6. The Origin of the Nation7. The Millennium of Luxembourg in 19638. Losing Importance9. ConclusionChapter Two. Melusine: The Mythological Origins1. A Medieval Myth and its Purpose2. The Emergence of the Legend in the Local Context3. Facets of a National Myth.4. ConclusionChapter Three. Ermesinde: The Connecting Link1. The Liberal Leader2. The Pious Princess3. Towards a National Trinity4. A Shared Memory5. The Forgotten: Limburg6. ConclusionChapter Four. John of Bohemia: Constructing a National Hero1. The Birth of the Hero2. The Rise of a Local Hero3. The Creation of a National Hero4. The three-fold basis of the national myth.Chapter Five. John of Bohemia: The Vicissitudes of a National Hero1. Mort pour la France2. The Dynasty’s Favourite3. The Last Days of the Nationalist Icon?4. Alternative Memories5. The European champion6. The Forgotten: Sigismund7. ConclusionsConclusionsAppendixBibliographyIndex

"This book is a mine of information for anyone interested in the history of medievalism. By highlighting the intercultural crossings between Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, and France, Péporté follows indirectly the histoire croisée approach. His findings will be of great value to scholars of Europe's entagled history." – Stefan Goebel, in:Speculum 88/2 (April 2013), pp 565-566"Le projet qu'il a mené à son terme impressionne non seulement par son ambition mais aussi par son audace. Partant du constat que l'écriture du passé a fatalement quelque chose de factice, l'historien s'est émancipé des subdivisions traditionnelles de sa discipline pour parcourir, avec un sens critique aiguisé, près d'un millénaire de littérature historique." – Vincent Artuso, in: woxx 1178 (31 August 2012)"Für [...] Pit Péporté, der sein Buch über die „Konstruktion des Mittelalters“ mit diesem Beispiel aus jüngster Vergangenheit beginnt, ist die Debatte über die nationalen Qualitäten des mittelalterlichen Wappentiers ein gutes Beispiel, wie Geschichte, hier in Gestalt einer traditionellen Symbolik, von einem nationalen Diskurs instrumentalisiert werden kann." – Jean-Louis Scheffen, in: Télécran, June 2012, pp. 134-137"[A] worthy addition to the growing literature on »inventing« historical memory [...]." – James M. Murray, in: perspectivia.net, February 2012