Last week, StC hosted author and educator Matthew Gabriele as our Williams-McElroy History Endowment speaker in Ryan Recital Hall. A professor of medieval studies at Virginia Tech, Gabriele explained to our Upper School how references to the Middle Ages continue to appear in modern culture, media, and politics.

Pointing to examples like the television series "Game of Thrones," medieval reenactment hobbyists, and musician Chappell Roan's 2024 performance at the Video Music Awards in a full suit of armor, Gabriele explained that periods of renewed interest in the Middle Ages are often driven by significant "top-down" cultural moments and how we choose to interpret history. "What we are often talking about is how people have remembered the past," said Gabriele during his talk. "Because Chappell Roan, for example, isn't talking about the 15th century Maid of Orleans, she's talking about the way Joan of Arc has been used and deployed and remembered and thought of in history and pop culture," he said. 

Gabriele also spent much of his talk dispelling outdated stereotypes about the medieval period as a one-dimensional period of superstition, chaos, and violence, which only ended with the arrival of the European Renaissance. The author also used primary sources to show that the Middle Ages featured sophisticated and far-reaching trade networks and a familiarity with other parts of the world where people of different religions and backgrounds lived together more frequently than many might imagine. "People often rely on a caricature of the Middle Ages," Gabriele said. "What we have is a messy, permeable world in which Christians and Muslims would sometimes ally against other Christians," Gabriele said. 

The author explained that he hoped that when students saw references to the Middle Ages, they'd make the connection between historical events or ideas and know how to understand them in a contemporary context. There is an enduring power in medieval imagery and references, as they continue to show up in many aspects of modern life. "When you see pop culture medievalisms, we're almost never talking about the Middle Ages themselves. Everything is filtered through some modern understanding or nostalgia," said Gabriele.