Power, Propaganda and Medieval Historiography

Abstract

This article explores the contribution of Antonia Gransden’s article, ‘Propaganda in English Medieval Historiography’. It argues that while the tendency to focus on the political aspects of historical writing has grown more influential in the fifty years since Gransden wrote, a number of new contributions share Gransden’s reservations on the use of history as ‘propaganda’ in the Middle Ages, and points to new ways to appreciate the purposes and powers of medieval historical writing