Norwich

• Our nation’s heritage on this island continent is full of it: in aesthetics, institutions, laws, languages, identities, moralities.
• Indeed, the very idea of a university is medieval – a concept developed by the Catholic Church around the year 1100.
• Melbourne’s Luna Park has a giant gaping mouth you walk through to the amusements.
• People sometimes say the Middle Ages don’t matter in this bright new modern age.

Getting medieval

• Another, shows how contemporary conspiracy theories derive from medieval models.
• A third, how the solace of medieval spirituality was a key resource for men dying of AIDS in 1980s New South Wales.
• What about the medieval legend of “sodomite Christmas”.
• In fact, and paradoxical as it might seem, medieval history has always moved with the times.
• The fantastic success of the medieval on film courses (and the like) reflects this.

Protecting the narrative around our heritage

• The Vatican Library, in the heart of Rome, for instance, isn’t just a setting for Dan Brown page-turners.
• – is only important to Great Britain (a political formation that did not exist in Elizabeth’s time).
• We need to protect our cultural heritage from efforts to erase them.