The individual chapters give the basic outlines of the lives and careers of their various figures and an overview of their subsequent reputations, influence, and appearances in high or popular culture. Lives and careers can usually be summarized pretty effectively, but we have had to be very selective with regard to later impact and manifestations. There are simply too many instances, already existing and appearing daily, to be listed or described, and every reader will be able to add more examples from personal knowledge. Random illustrations are as follows: John Wayne, hopelessly miscast as Genghis Khan, in The Conqueror (directed by Dick Powell, 1956);7 an episode of the TV drama House titled “Brave Heart” (2009); “Camelot,” a new Starz 10-episode series started April 1, 2011 (“Sword, Sex and Sorcery,” Vogue); the made-for-TV “Beyond Sherwood Forest” (directed by Peter DeLuise, 2009);8 John Steinbeck’s The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976), his retelling of Malory’s Morte Darthur; Robert Nye’s scabrous tour-de-force Merlin: Darkling Child of Virgin and Devil (1978); Joan of Arc in Nye’s The Life and Death of My Lord Gilles de Rais (1990); a made-for-TV version of The Lion in Winter, starring Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close (directed by Andrey Konchalovskiy, 2003); the King Arthur Flour Company; the fact that Ivan the Terrible admired Vlad Dracula, and Josef Stalin admired Ivan, ergo. . . . We encourage you to come up with your own examples of the ongoing modern engagement with these “Icons of the Middle Ages.”
World History
