PERSONAL: So, why did you choose Medieval Studies? Part 1: Choosing Your Own Adventure

Recently someone asked me the question 'So, what made you choose Medieval Studies?'. After a few moments thought I said non-noncommittally that there were a lot of reasons.  It got me thinking about the things which inspired me to make that choice, and what continues to inspire me in my research.  It led to a few surprising reflections.  And while it didn't start there one of the first physical objects that led me to this field of research was a rather battered book from a very underfunded school library. 

My memories of what might be called my childhood are vague at best – but there are a few things which stand out and some of them are key to how I came to settle in Medieval Studies.  I was about 7 years old when I got my first Usborne Puzzle Adventures book from the library.  I can’t remember which one, but I remember sitting and working out each puzzle, and then running over it again and again.  A particular favourite was The Vanishing Village.

 

The books were fantastical and followed similar plot lines to the other stories I liked to read – but it was the added element of problem solving which stuck with me.  I loved piecing together keys and codes, especially if it required putting together an inscription of some kind.  I knew vaguely what archaeology was, I knew it was something my Dad had done some work in, but I didn’t really connect the two until much later.  I remember a few years later I started trying to design my own puzzle adventures.  It was this that led to me creating what would be the first of many ‘alphabets’.  I knew absolutely nothing of linguistics, so most of the early ones mapped to English, and later to German.  This sparked an interest in runic alphabets and a conversation with my Dad where he talked about Ogham.  I was fascinated.  As far as teaching medieval studies goes the lesson I personally draw from this part of my own history is that for some students it can be a better path to show interesting problems, rather than simply providing answers. 

A few years later I started playing through Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks – finding myself mostly drawn to those set in worlds based loosely on the middle ages.  The first was Trial of Champions, and the second Forest of Doom.  I was writing my own stories – and through this I came to the idea that I needed to know more of the worlds I was creating and so I needed to know more about the world I was basing them on.  This led me, though I didn’t know it, to my first encounter with the concept of ‘research’.  I began to read everything I could find on the Middle Ages which would at times lead me into conflicts that I wasn’t expecting (more on that in a later entry).   

They weren’t the first step on my road to studying and researching Medieval Studies – but they were a key step that would lead me eventually to where I stand now, as a PhD student working on the Middle Ages.  Much to my delight I recently discovered that the Usborne Puzzle Adventures are still relatively easy to get hold of.  The Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks are still in print in a number of editions.  The first part of a history of those gamebooks, titled You are the Hero, was written by J. Green and published in 2014, and a second in 2017.  Sadly, the second part is very hard to track down.

The take home message from this reflection is relatively simple – teaching doesn’t have to be about knowing the answers.  Sometimes it’s about introducing students to the puzzles, problems and challenges of research.