History is often not what happened, it is what someone wants you to think happened. Stories about the past are often ‘improved’, to speak more to present concerns, or to be more satisfying emotionally. The Middle Ages is one of the most misunderstood periods in human history. It is ridiculed, satirised, wondered at and glorified in equal measure, and for over a hundred years, cinema has been an important forum for that process. Movies set in the medieval period are as numerous as Westerns, and have become, over time, one of the dominant sources for our awareness of the ‘Age of Chivalry’. In this slightly light-hearted lecture, we ‘out’ some of the worst offenders in the history of medieval cinema and celebrate a few of the rare heroes, judging them against the reality on which they are supposedly based.

Dr Tobias Capwell      

Toby Capwell is an independent scholar and leading authority on medieval and Renaissance arms and armour. Over the last thirty years he has worked with many of the world's great collections, including the Imperial Armoury in Vienna, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Royal Armouries in Leeds. He has also served as curator of Glasgow Museums and the Wallace Collection, where he worked for sixteen years until January 2023. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Armourers in London. He is the author of many books on armour, weapons and tournaments, has curated numerous exhibitions, and frequently appears in film, television and online media.