Medievalism

Medievalism is the system of belief and practice characteristic of the Middle Ages, or devotion to elements of that period, which has been expressed in areas such as architecture, literature, music, art, philosophy, scholarship, and various vehicles of popular culture. Since the eighteenth century, a variety of movements have used the medieval period as a model or inspiration for creative activity, including Romanticism, the Gothic revival, the Pre-Raphaelite and arts and crafts movements and neo-medievalism (a term often used interchangeably with medievalism). Medievalism can also be used as an insult, implying conservatism and outdated attitudes. The words "medievalism" and "Medieval" are both first recorded in the nineteenth century. "Medieval" is derived from Latin medium aevum (middle of the ages).

History

Renaissance to Enlightenment

In the 1330s, Petrarch expressed the view that European culture had stagnated and drifted into what he called the "Dark Ages," since the fall of Rome in the fifth century, owing to among other things, the loss of many classical Latin texts and to the corruption of the language in contemporary discourse. Scholars of the Renaissance believed that they lived in a new age that broke free of the decline described by Petrarch. Historians Leonardo Bruni and Flavio Biondo developed a three tier outline of history composed of Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The Latin term media tempestas (middle time) first appears in 1469. The term medium aevum (Middle Ages) is first recorded in 1604. "Medieval" first appears in the nineteenth century and is an Anglicised form of medium aevum.