The appropriation of the Middle Ages by far-right movements represents a complex and internationally diverse phenomenon that intertwines historical myth-making with contemporary political, anti-democratic agendas. In general, this process, often referred to as "medievalism," involves the selective use of medieval symbols, figures, and narratives to construct ideologies that promote exclusion, nationalism, and a reactionary vision of society. Far-right groups frequently invoke the Middle Ages as a supposed era of racial purity, cultural homogeneity, and strong hierarchical order.
This form of medievalism typically involves romanticizing or distorting historical events, such as the Crusades or the Viking Age, to serve contemporary ideological purposes. Other recurring themes are authoritarian leadership and military leadership, a fascination with weapons, and toxic masculinity, traditional gender roles and family models, estates of the realm with a tripartite society, back-to-the-land inspired ruralism, and social and cultural conservatism in general. This reimagining of the Middle Ages as a time of simplicity, warfare and order appeals to those who feel alienated by the complexities of contemporary life and seek a return to a mythical “golden age.” In this context, the ideal of a liberal, power-sharing democracy based on the rule of law is considered by far-right activists to be an imposition and not representative of the people’s nation, which they imagine to be a racially and culturally unified entity.
Scholars have in the past decades been working on research questions and designs to prove that the medieval period was far more diverse and complex than the monochromatic vision presented by the far-right – which in many regards is similar to the version drawn by 19th and 20th century historians and philologists, who applied the nationalist and national romantic ideologies of their own age to their image of the past. At the same time, research about far-right ideologies is rarely ever carried out by medievalists. But understanding the far-right’s use of the Middle Ages requires a critical examination of both the historical record and the ways in which history is manipulated for political ends, just as a critical examination of medieval literature and art is required, which even at the time of their creation often referred to a merely fictionalized past that cannot be used as a real-world argument to legitimize an ideology.