On Tue, 8 Jul 1997, Julia Bolton Holloway wrote
>
> To start another thread I've just received a fine new popular book on Julian
> of Norwich, Shiela Upjohn, Why Julian Now?, which, alas, falls for the usual
> cliche/commonplace that the Middle Ages though the world was flat and
> square, when medieval people clearly knew it was round, the orb with the
> cross for Jerusalem at the top, mappa mundi, Icelandic maps and all the
> rest. How can we go about correcting these Renaissance/Modern fallacies
> about the Middle Ages?
>
Alas, Julia, it remains an uphill battle. Popular views of the Middle
Ages, are deeply ingrained, and reinforced not just by the popular press but by
reputable scholars. Georges Duby, for example, spoke of early
medieval peasants huddling in "islands in the wilderness" (1981, Age of
Cathedrals, p.1). The historiographic tradition denigrating the
middle ages goes back at least to the Renaissance (for example see
Louis Green 1972, Chronicle into History), and continues in no
small part because it is frequently useful for writers, whether
serious scholars or not, to emphasize the down side of the period
(for an discussion see R. Ross 1996 `Henri Pirenne and the
Legitimization of Belgium' in Banks and Sullivan, Nationalism in
Archaeology).
Both popular fiction and school history texts reinforce the image.
Changing history texts is difficult but possible. First of all one of us has
to write a really good history text which does not perpetuate the stereotypes
of the middle ages, and then we have to convince history teachers to buy it.
Both are easier said than done. The best place to get at the teachers is when
they are undergraduates (in those countries where a BA is a prerequisite for a
teaching certificate), but very few of those who chose to become history
teachers take medieval history. A conundrum, and I've never really come up
with a satisfactory answer.
Changing popular perceptions through fiction is equally difficult.
The trouble is, as some of us may know, writing really good fiction
is very hard. None the less the impact of a single popular book (or
TV show; we can but dream) on popular perceptions can be enormous.
Mary Stewart's Crystal Cave and Hollow Hills did far more to change
popular perceptions of early `Dark Age' Britain than the academic
work on which it relied so heavily (Leslie Alcock 1971 Arthur's
Britain).
There are, then, no easy solutions. Given enough time, and enough
persistance, the views we pass on to students (of whatever level)
will eventually start to make an impact. The only other suggestion i
can make, which is really a variation on a suggestion made by Alex
Woolf a couple of years ago, is that the best way to change the
popular view of the past is to change the views of the people who
shape that image: teachers, journalists, writers. How, I don't know.
Ron Ross
Archaeological Research Consultancy of the
University of Sheffield (ARCUS)
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