The Uses of the Middle Ages in Modern European States History, Nationhood and the Search for Origins

by Evans, R.J.W.; Marchal, Guy P.

• ISBN13: 9780230576025
• ISBN10: 0230576028
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-01-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

An assessment of the role of the Middle Ages in national historiography and in modern conceptions of national identity, this book looks at relatively young nations, and regions which claim national traditions but were slow to achieve, or regain, separate statehood. Examples range from Ireland and Iceland through Austria and Italy to Finland and Greece.

Author Biography

ROBERT EVANS has been Regius professor of History at the University of Oxford, UK since 1997. His main publications are: Rudolf II and his World; The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy; Austria, Hungary, and the Habsburgs: Essays on Central Europe, c. 1683-1867. His current research is on the Habsburg lands, 16th to 20th century, especially modern Hungary; and Welsh history in comparative context.

GUY P. MARCHAL is Emeritus professor of General and Swiss History, University of Lucerne. Main relevant works: Die frommen Schweden in Schwyz. Das 'Herkommen der Schwyzer und Oberhasler' als Quelle zum schwyzerischen Selbstverständnis im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert; Geschichte der Schweiz und der Schweizer; Schweizer Gebrauchsgeschichte. Geschichtsbilder, Mythenbildung und nationale Identität. Special interests in the history of mentalités, historical anthropology, historiography and the history of traditions.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors
Introduction; G.Marchal
PART I: CELTS AND SCANDINAVIA
Transmission and Translation of Medieval Irish Sources in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries; B.Cunningham
The 'Decline of Norway': Grief and Fascination in Norwegian Historiography on the Middle Ages; J.E.Myhre
'Braves Step out of the Night of the Barrows': Regenerating the Heritage of Early Medieval Finland; D.Fewster
Interpreting the Nordic Past: Icelandic Medieval Manuscripts and the Construction of a Modern Nation; G.Hálfdanarson
PART II: BENELUX
A Serious Case of Amnesia: The Dutch and their Middle Ages; P.Raedts
Medieval Myths and the Building of National Identity: the Example of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg; M.Margue&P.Péporté
An Era of Grandeur: The Middle Ages in Belgian National Historiography, 1830-1914; J.Tollebeek
PART III: BALKANS
To Whom Does Byzantium Belong? Greeks, Turks and the Present of the Medieval Balkans; J.Niehoff-Panagiotidis
The Image of the Kosovo Battle (1389) Today: A Historic Event, a Moral Pattern, or the Tool of Political Manipulation; M.Šuica
PART IV: CENTRAL EUROPE
Italy's Various Middle Ages; M.Moretti&I.Porciani
Medievalism and Swiss National Identity; G.Marchal 
The Public Instrumentalization of the Middle Ages in Austria since 1945; H.Wolfram
'Old Czechs were Hefty Heroes': The Construction and Reconstruction of Czech National History in its Relationship to the 'Great' Medieval Past; F.Šmahel
Conclusion; R.J.W.Evans
Bibliography
Index