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Victorian Medievalism: Revival or Masquerade?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

Helene E. Roberts
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Extract

In seeking to revive the spirit, culture, and appearances of medieval times the Victorians used many stratagems. Among them, and often overlooked, was their antiquarian study of medieval dress and their wearing of costumes that represented medieval clothing. Whereas the eighteenth century had expressed their interest in the Middle Ages largely through Gothick novels and through architectural research and reconstructions, the nineteenth century, although continuing to look to a medieval inspiration in architecture, enveloped themselves in the more intimate clasp of medieval apparel and, thus accoutered, sought to enact the pageantry and pastimes of the medieval ages.

Type
Research Article
Information
Victorian Literature and Culture , Volume 8 , Spring 1980 , pp. 11 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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References

NOTES

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