The imagination of the Middle Ages runs wild on the internet. From popular history to pseudohistorical conspiracy theories, from gaming culture to memes, the medieval inspires the present. The study of medievalism is now a well-established field of study, but scholars rarely venture beyond American and Western European cultural sphere.

The conference Medievalism Between East and West (26-27 September 2019) explores medievalism, pseudo-history and history politics in Northern Europe and Russia. The conference has an emphasis on Finland and Russia but has also papers treating its themes in other geographical areas.

The registration for the conference is now open also for participants without a paper.

The following keynote lectures, held in lecture hall Janus, are open to all and do not require registration.

Thursday 26 September
10.00-11.00: Andrew B. Elliott: Historical Authority in Political Medievalism: Who Owns the Medieval Past?
14.00-15.00: Sirpa Aalto: A Dark World? – The Role of Saga Literature in Finnish Pseudo-Histories in the Internet

Friday 27 September
9.00-10.00: Sergey Zhuravlev: Middle Ages in Recent Russian Historical Policy
13.00-14.00: Kati Parppei: Medieval Battles in Contemporary Contexts: Case Kulikovo (1380)

The whole conference programme is available here.

Those attending the entire conference are asked to register at Konsta: https://konsta.utu.fi/Default.aspx?tabid=88&tap=7925.

The registration fee is 20 €, and it covers coffee services and lunches on Thursday and Friday.

The deadline for registration is 16 September.

The conference is organised by the research project The Ancient Finnish Kings: a computational study of pseudohistory, medievalism and history politics in contemporary Finland and Russia (funded by the Emil Aaltonen Foundation), in co-operation with Turku Institute for Advanced Studies.