Ever since I was a little kid I have been fascinated and intrigued by the culture and imagery associated with the Middle Ages. I believe the thing that started my interest in the culture was the film “A Knights tale” starring the late Heath Ledger released in 2001, as a kid, I absolutely adored this film, and although of course it took a more Hollywoodesque approach, I loved how it depicted the culture and society of the Middle Ages, the knights, squires, kings and Queens, and of course, jousting. I loved seeing the different knights hailing from different noble families, each with their own colours and heraldic symbol representing their house, it really got my imagination going as a kid, and every since I saw that film I know I have wanted to learn as much as I can about the period.
This film is also what started my great interest into medieval fantasy such as Lord of the Rings and later Game of Thrones, as well as fantasy games that depict an almost dystopian Middle Ages such as the Dark Souls series, and ones will a more light hearted approach such as World of Warcraft.
So all in all I am super exited to be taking this course because that means I get to learn more about this incredibly interesting period as well as look over actual historical artifacts preserved from this period, it is honestly an incredible opportunity and a dream come true. It honestly kind of blows my mind that we even have access to these historical artifacts not to mention permission to touch them, which reminds me that I need to be less sleep deprived and very careful when I handle such artifacts in the future as to avoid furling the edges, and possibly damaging them. Although, I am currently having a hard time completing and navigating some of the more technical aspects of the course, such as the humanities commons site as well as some of the other sites, I am looking forward to being able to navigate these sites with eventual ease and am thankful I am learning them now, as having accounts set up and knowing these services might be very helpful going into my last couple years of University. All in all I am very much looking forward to learning a combination of technical as well as analytical skills, and just simply having fun and learning about the Middle Ages in this course.