The Uses of the Middle Ages in modern European states: history, nationhood and the search for origins

Abstract

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.Halfdanarson 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.Peporte 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.Suica 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.Smahel Conclusion R.J.W.Evans Bibliography Index