medievalism

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   admiration for, imitation of, or devotion to the ideas, institutions, art, or social forms of the Middle Ages

   The architect's medievalism appeared in pointed arches and heraldic decoration.

2. 2
   noun

   a medieval custom, belief, institution, or condition, especially one surviving into a later period

   The reformers condemned the law as a remnant of medievalism.

3. 3
   noun

   the scholarly study or modern cultural interpretation of the Middle Ages

   Her research examines medievalism in nineteenth-century fiction.

Formed from medieval + -ism in the nineteenth century. It can name medieval conditions themselves, their survival or revival in later culture, and the modern study and reinterpretation of the Middle Ages. Mediaevalism, formerly often written mediævalism, is a dated spelling.

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