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The Medieval Academy of America, joined by other groups of scholars of medieval times, issued a statement Friday criticizing the way white supremacist groups are using imagery and myths from the periods they study.
"As scholars of the medieval world, we are disturbed by the use of a nostalgic but inaccurate myth of the Middle Ages by racist movements in the United States," the statement says. "By using imagined medieval symbols, or names drawn from medieval terminology, they create a fantasy of a pure, white Europe that bears no relationship to reality. This fantasy not only hurts people in the present, it also distorts the past. Medieval Europe was diverse religiously, culturally and ethnically, and medieval Europe was not the entire medieval world. Scholars disagree about the motivations of the Crusades -- or, indeed, whether the idea of 'crusade' is a medieval one or came later -- but it is clear that racial purity was not primary among them."
The full statement may be found here. Classicists have issued a similar statement.
