I think Teresa Rupp's way of dealing with "misconceptions" is excellent, and
sensitive to the point that nobody has a monopoly on truth. So-called
"misconceptions" arose for a reason, and the reason is not that people were
stupid.
Could we stop crowing about other people's "misconceptions" on a "we're so
smart and they're so dumb" basis? Especially in an academic forum, it's more
interesting to untangle the threads to see why people thought as they did.
Most "misconceptions" served a purpose in their time, and it's often the
purpose which is interesting.
pat sloane
> Subj: Popular misconceptions
> Date: 97-07-11 08:52:36 EDT
> From: [log in to unmask] (Teresa Rupp)
> Sender: [log in to unmask]
> Reply-to: [log in to unmask]
> To: [log in to unmask] (medieval-religion)
>
> In the first meeting of my medieval survey class, I try to bring these
> modern misconceptions to the fore. First I ask them what they think of
> when I say "Middle Ages" or "medieval." I write their responses on the
> board as they call them out, dividing them into two columns. In one
> column goes such responses as "Dark Ages," "barbarian," "filth," etc. and
> in the other goes "Age of Faith," "castles," and "knights in shining
> armor," etc. Then I show two clips from movies that correspond to the two
> sets of images: a feasting scene from The Vikings (with Kirk Douglas), in
> which people are shouting, gnawing on large bones, and throwing knives,
> and the wedding scene from Camelot (also a celebratory gathering), which
> is much more "courtly." Next I explain the origins of the two
> conceptions: the first is the legacy of the Renaissance's invention of
> the Middle Ages, and the second is the legacy of the Romantics'
> rediscovery of the Middle Ages (here I give examples of 19th C
> medievalism, like pre-raphaelite painting and the Houses of Parliament).
> Finally, I point out that we in the twentieth century are heirs to both
> images of the MA, and we have to keep our preconceptions in mind as we
> study the sources.
>
>
> Teresa Rupp
> Department of History
> Mount Saint Mary's College
> Emmitsburg, MD 21727
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|