Dhe Middle Ages, as Umberto Eco once put it, are so close to us because central characteristics of modern society such as capitalism, social inequality or national thinking have their origin there. Eco’s Middle Ages is the Middle Ages of Europe, which has long since come under attack. For years, scholars of all mediaeval studies have endeavored to liberate “the” Middle Ages from its geographical and intellectual-historical blinders. This means that issues such as racism, social exclusion and cultural exchange, for example with North Africa or India, are increasingly coming into focus.
This goes hand in hand with the reappraisal of academic specialist traditions, the origins of which often date back to the nineteenth century and which were often shaped by nationalistic ideas. In Anglo-American medieval research in particular, this debate has been going on with great vehemence for several years. So the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists changed its name to “International Society for the Study of Early Medieval England” after heated discussions and partly personal hostility from those who campaigned for it, to avoid the imperialistic connotations associated with the term “Anglo-Saxon”. inherent to counteract.
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