The Oxford Handbook of Victorian Medievalism

Abstract

Abstract Victorian medievalism physically transformed the streets of Britain. It lay at the root of new laws and social policies. It changed religious practices. It deeply coloured national identities. And it inspired art, literature, and music that remains influential to this day. Sometimes driven by nostalgia, but also often progressive and future-facing, this wide-reaching movement, which reached its peak during the reign of Queen Victoria, looked back to a range of different peoples and historical periods spanning a thousand years, in order to inspire and vindicate cultural, political and social change. Medievalism was pervasive in Victorian literature, with texts ranging from translated sagas to pseudo-medieval devotional verse, to triple-decker novels. It became a dominant architectural mode – transforming the English landscape, with 75% of new churches built on a ‘Gothic’ rather than a classical model, as well as museums, railway stations, town halls, and pumping stations. It was appealed to by both Whigs and Tories. But it also permeated domestic life – influencing the popularity of beards, the naming of children, and the design of homes and furniture. This landmark study is an attempt to draw together for the first time every major aspect of Victorian medievalism, and to examine the phenomenon from the perspective of the many disciplines to which it is relevant, including intellectual history, religious studies, social history, literary history, art history, and architecture. Bringing together the expertise of 39 experts from different subject areas, it reveals the pervasiveness and multi-faceted character of the movement in the nineteenth century, and explains its continuing legacy today.