A Knight at the Movies: Medieval History on Film [Hardcover]

John Aberth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 29, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0415938856 | ISBN-13: 978-0415938853 | Edition: 1

Imagining the Middle Ages is an unprecedented examination of the historical content of films depicting the medieval period from the 11th to the 15th centuries. Historians increasingly feel the need to weigh in on popular depictions of the past, since so much of the public's knowledge of history comes from popular mediums. Aberth dissects how each film interpreted the period, offering estimations of the historical accuracy of the works and demonstrating how they project their own contemporary era's obsessions and fears onto the past.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is an ambitious and exciting book. The author combines very up-to-date historiography -- some of it controversial but all of it interesting -- with a sensitive and deep appreciation of the art of the films. Any teacher of film or medieval studies should make use of this valuable resource.
–Jeremy duQuesnay Adams, Southern Methodist University

About the Author

John Aberthreceived his Ph.D. in medieval history from Cambridge University in England and teaches history at several colleges in Vermont. He is author of From the Brink of the Apocalypse: Confronting Famine, War, Plague, and Death in the Later Middle Ages , also published by Routledge.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (July 29, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415938856
• ISBN-13: 978-0415938853
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,634,857 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars useful study of medieval history on film, February 11, 2006

By 

J. Cowans (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Knight at the Movies: Medieval History on Film (Paperback)

Aberth provides us an excellent survey of cinematic treatments of the medieval era. Each chapter opens with a survey of the history the films cover, tnen proceeds to discuss several key films. The chapters cover King Arthur films, Viking films, Crusade films, Robin Hood films, Black Death films, and Joan of Arc films. Aberth's judgments are pretty reliable, as he favors classic films such as Bergman's Seventh Seal and Dreyer's film on Joan of Arc, but he also finds value in newer films such as Navigator. A very worthwhile study by a historian of the middle ages.

9 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A great example of how NOT to write about history and film, May 8, 2005

By 

Orson Welles "Hollywood" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Knight at the Movies: Medieval History on Film (Paperback)

This book may have some use as a reference resource, especially for those readers not familiar with many films about the Middle Ages. Its publication as a serious work of history and film is, however, an embarrassment to Routledge. Though Aberth says he does not simply want to point out historical inaccuracies and anachronisms in the films he discusses, he ends up largely doing just that. Dividing the historical background off from discussion of the films, he uses History (naively considered as transparent and self-evident to the "objective" historian) to bludgeon various films and their directors. These films and film direcotrs supposedly "distort" history in order to "push an agenda." If Aberth knows little about history, he knows even less about film and film history. Reductive readings of the films (often cribbed from other writers) in relation to their moment of production is about all Aberth has to over in a rambling, poorly written, and simplistic excuse for a book (that should never have been published). Aberth offers no explanation of the book's organization, nor does he bother to explain the omission of numerous films from his book. Unfortunately, Aberth has no competitors in English as far as book length studies go. (...)