The Devil's Historians: How Modern Extremists Abuse the Medieval Past by Amy S. Kaufman, and Paul B. Sturtevant (review)

The purpose of The Devil's Historians is made clear in the introduction: 'With this book we hope to expose and challenge the many dangerous fantasies—past and present—that are based on misperceptions of medieval history' (p. 8).

In the authors' view, the thousand years 500–1500, known collectively as the Middle Ages, are especially vulnerable to such misperceptions because they are 'particularly murky in the modern imagination' (p. 6). The problem with such fantasies is not their inaccuracy in itself; rather it is the use to which they are put. Such myths 'have a long and terrible legacy of being used to hurt people' (p. 8). If I had had any doubts about the horrific ends to which medievalism can be employed, this book would have cured them. Part of its value is in sentences like this, which take us to the heart of the matter in everyday language: these myths are used to hurt people. For anyone keen to know how medievalist myths are used as weapons, this book is the place to start. It is also a mine of information and analysis for anyone wishing to research more deeply into the dangerous uses of medievalism.

Chapter 1 is devoted to disentangling fact from fiction in a variety of commonly held myths about the Middle Ages that, for many, pass as the truth. The danger of making the Middle Ages 'a dumping ground for all of humanity's bad behaviour' (p. 10), is that we can believe that we have freed ourselves from the abuses of the past whilst blithely ignoring those same abuses occurring today (p. 10).

Each of the following chapters explores different aspects of medievalism and the different ways in which it can affect the lives of ordinary people. Each chapter is divided into sections devoted to particular aspects of medievalism and the ways in which it is used to demean and oppress a target population: Jews, Muslims, people of colour, women, anyone perceived as 'different' from a supposed norm.

Chapter 2 explores the dangers of a European nationalism defined not by a place but by 'a people, based on factors that include race, religion, culture, and language' (p. 29). Such distinctions made by nationalists rely on the fiction of a 'pure' European medieval past that 'not only had concrete, rigid geographical borders but firm ethnic borders as well' (p. 51). Accordingly, any who did not conform to the national myth could be labelled as foreigners in their own countries (pp. 29–30), with all the abuse and suffering that entailed.

Chapter 3 examines the 'Clash of Civilizations' argument that conflict between civilizations, defined by religion and culture, is inevitable (p. 64). Kaufman and Sturtevant argue, not that such clashes never occurred, but that they were only part of the story. For instance, in 'An Interfaith Medieval World' they examine a diverse, cosmopolitan southern Europe where mutual tolerance was the norm. Cultural clashes, they acknowledge, may have been common since the Middle Ages, given that 'war is part of human nature' (p. 79), but also, 'as the medieval world can teach us, so are coexistence, shared knowledge, and peace' (p. 79). Here, as throughout the book, the authors show the inadequacy of one-sided accounts. In this, as in other ways, they demonstrate the value of thorough, balanced, and compassionate investigation through their own example as well as through their accounts.

Chapter 4, in the words of its authors, will 'take you through the centuries of propaganda that elevated medieval Europe, and medieval white people, in the modern imagination' (p. 82). In a range of examples, from American slavery propaganda films through to 'Neomedieval white feminism' (p. 90), this chapter explores the hatred and violence of white supremacist writings, and actions fuelled by destructive forms of medievalism, and investigates...