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In this scene from the film Francis of Assisi (1961), St Francis of Assisi travels to the East to sue for peace with the Sultan, whose armies are fighting the Christian crusaders in the Holy Land. Francis urges the Sultan's conversion to Christianity…

The author of the hagiography The First Life of St. Francis was Thomas of Celano, a Franciscan who joined the order shortly after it was founded and who knew Francis personally. To write an account of Francis’ life, Celano drew on testimonies from…

In this antiphonary, or liturgical book, from Bologna, Italy, St. Francis and St. Clare, who is shown kneeling before him, are wearing the traditional gray habits of the Franciscan Order. They are painted in a historiated initial on a folio showing…

This illuminated page from a French Book of Hours shows St. Francis kneeling in prayer as he receives from an angel the stigmata, or the Christ's crucifixion wounds on his hands, feet, and torso. St. Francis receiving the stigmata is one of the more…

The film begins with a quotation from Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Gibbon’s idea of a long Roman decline brought on by many factors influenced the movie considerably, though the plot is only loosely based on the real…

Centurion, written and directed by Neil Marshall, paints a picture of the disappearance of the Ninth Legion, or the Ninth Hispana. With a star-studded cast, including X-Men’s Michael Fassbender and Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham, it is set in…

My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this…

The Eagle is a film of historical fiction, and stars Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, and Donald Sutherland. Released in February of 2011, The Eagle adapts Rosemary Sutcliff's 1954 novel The Eagle of the Ninth. It was filmed with a budget of $25 million,…

First Knight, released in 1995, is certainly still an interesting movie despite its poor reviews. From its unique focus on a side plot of Arthurian legend stems a broader conversation on how modern society perceives notions of medieval harmony, love,…

Antoine Fuqua’s King Arthur relies on the reputation of Arthur’s name, but hardly mentions any of the stories from Arthurian literature. Starring many renowned actors such as Keira Knightley, Clive Owen, and Ioan Gruffud, the film is loosely based on…