The Middle Ages and the Movies: Eight Key Films

by Robert Bartlett

From Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal to Monty Python, an investigation into how eight key films have shaped our understanding of the medieval world.
 
In The Middle Ages and the Movies , eminent historian Robert Bartlett takes a fresh, cogent look at how our view of medieval history has been shaped by eight significant films of the twentieth century. The book ranges from the concoction of sex and nationalism in Mel Gibson’s Braveheart , to Fritz Lang’s silent epic Siegfried , the art-house classic The Seventh Seal , and the epic historical drama El Cid . Bartlett examines the historical accuracy of these films, as well as other salient aspects—how was Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose translated from page to screen? Why is Monty Python and the Holy Grail funny? And how was Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky shaped by the Stalinist tyranny under which it was filmed?

Genres: Film, History

256 pages, Hardcover

Published June 28, 2022

About the author

Robert Bartlett, CBE, FBA, FRSE is Bishop Wardlaw Professor of Mediaeval History Emeritus at the University of St Andrews.

Reviews

[Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really cool idea for a book, but Bartlett's commentary kills it. He's got no lack of dumb and boring shit to say. Very little insight. The selection of films is pretty good, here's my ranking of them from favorite to least:
The Seventh Seal
Die Nibelungen: Siegfried
Andrei Rublev
Alexander Nevsky
Braveheart
The Name of the Rose
El Cid
Monty Python and the Holy Grail

[Lauren Huff · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really love Bartlett's other work that I've read, but this one was rough. Some of the films were absolutely fantastic and that's where I'm getting the second star from, but the commentary was atrocious. Massive letdown.

[Olaf · Rating 4 out of 5]

We all love to shit on Braveheart, and thanks to Bartlett we can now do so in an informed way.