Abstract

Medievalism, the study of post-Medieval representations and uses of the Middle Ages, is a flourishing historiographic sector, with a prominent place in current Medieval Studies. This paper draws on the literature of the cultural history of the First World War and, by analyzing a diverse range of sources, identifies the broad spectrum of Medieval ideas widespread in Europe during the Great War (1914-1918). In particular, it focuses on codes of rhetoric and illustrates how three main Medieval-associated traits - barbarism, chivalry and Crusade - were ever-present in the public discourse of the era.