Making the Medieval Relevant: How Medieval Studies Contribute to Improving our Understanding of the Present

When scholars discuss the medieval past, the temptation is to become immersed there, to deepen our appreciation of the nuances of the medieval sources through debate about their meaning. But the past informs the present in a myriad of ways and medievalists can, and should, use their research to address the concerns and interests of contemporary society. This volume presents a number of carefully commissioned essays that demonstrate the fertility and originality of recent work in Medieval Studies. Above all, they have been selected for relevance. Most contributors are in the earlier stages of their careers and their approaches clearly reflect how interdisciplinary methodologies applied to Medieval Studies have potential repercussions and value far beyond the boundaries of the Middles Ages. These chapters are powerful demonstrations of the value of medieval research to our own times, both in terms of providing answers to some of the specific questions facing humanity today and in terms of much broader considerations. Taken together, the research presented here also provides readers with confidence in the fact that Medieval Studies cannot be neglected without a great loss to the understanding of what it means to be human.

Frontmatter --; Contents --; Why Should we Care about the Middle Ages? Putting the Case for the Relevance of Studying Medieval Europe --; Providing Reliable Data? Combining Scientific and Historical Perspectives on Flooding Events in Medieval and Early Modern Nuremberg (1400-1800) --; Medieval History, Explosive Volcanism, and the Geoengineering Debate --; The Middle Ages in the Genetics Lab --; Could Medieval Medicine Help the Fight Against Antimicrobial Resistance? --; The Contemporary Delegitimization of (Medieval) History - and of the Traditional University Curriculum as a Whole --; Pacific Perspectives: Why study Europe's Middle Ages in Aotearoa New Zealand? --; How to be a Time Traveller: Exploring Venice with a Fifteenth-Century Pilgrimage Guide --; Heaven Can Tell . . . Late Medieval Astrologers as Experts - and what they can Teach us about Contemporary Financial Expertise --; Eoin MacNeill's Early Medieval Ireland: A Scholarship for Politics or a Politics of Scholarship? --; What's in a Word? Naming 'Muslims' in Medieval Christian Iberia --; The Enduring Power of the Cult of Relics - an Irish Perspective --; Resilience and Society in Medieval Southampton: An Archaeological Approach to Anticipatory Action, Politics, and Economy --; Studying the Middle Ages: Historical Food for Thought in the Present Day --; Notes on Contributors --; Index