The Middle Ages continue to surprise, this digital exhibition shows

Knights in love, preaching foxes and fighting snails: medieval culture may seem familiar or odd in modern eyes, but it is always surprising. In the digital exhibition ‘The Surprising Middle Ages’ (‘De verrassende middeleeuwen’), over fifty researchers from the Netherlands and abroad show what surprises the period between about 500 and 1500 still offers today.

‘The Surprising Middle Ages’

The exhibition ‘The Surprising Middle Ages’ is a special gift to Bart Besamusca, who retired as Professor of Middle Dutch Text Culture from an International Perspective on 25 January 2023. Medievalists from the Utrecht Centre for Medieval Studies were responsible for its composition.

In short contributions, researchers from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom talk about the medieval images, objects, buildings, or sources they find fascinating. Contributions include animals and monsters, love and sex, Utrecht, and the surviving Middle Ages.

In the spirit of Besamusca’s enthusiastic teaching, the aim of the exhibition is to take future generations of students and other interested parties into the wonderful and familiar world of the Middle Ages.