Era: Early Medieval
5th Century – 11th Century
Many of the first great empires break up, resulting in large migrations of peoples exporting new ideas. Centers of learning and industry solidify in Asia, the Americas create monumental architecture, and Europe is locked in feudal quarreling. Some of the highlights of this era include Persia’s Sassanid Empire, China’s Tang and Song dynasties, and the Maya and Toltecs in America.
1066
- Director: Robin Jacob
- Release Date: 2012
- Production Country: United Kingdom
1066 should have been a good year for the newly crowned King of England, Harold, but first his brother brings in the Norwegians to dethrone him, and then that pesky Norman bastard, William, decides that being the previous king's 1st cousin-once-removed on his father's side made him King. To keep his crown, Harold must suck it up and race his weary troops south to meet William's invading army at Hastings, where the future of both men, and possibly the world itself, will be decided in battle.
Alfred the Great
- Director: Clive Donner
- Release Date: 1969
- Production Country: United Kingdom
Though he would rather devote his life to the priesthood, Alfred cannot ignore the plight of his people as they suffer the constant depredations of Danish invaders who have long plagued the Eastern shores of Britain in search of homes and land of their own. Sacrificing his monastic dream, Alfred takes up the crown of Wessex and sets out to free his people—and, in the process, becomes the king of the Anglo-Saxons.
Beowulf
- Director: Robert Zemeckis
- Release Date: 2007
- Production Country: United States
Danish King Hrothgar needs a hero to kill the monster Grendel that has ruined all his recent banquets, and the warrior Beowulf gladly steps up to the plate. But after killing Grendel, Beowulf finds another creature in a cave; she seduces Beowulf with promises of power and fame, if only he will give her a child to replace the one he just killed.
Beowulf & Grendel
- Director: Sturla Gunnarsson
- Release Date: 2005
- Production Country: Canada, United Kingdom, Iceland, United States, Australia
A reluctant hero Beowulf agrees to kill the monster Grendel for King Hrothgar, until he finds out what Grendel is and why he's on a rampage. Maybe, just maybe, Beowulf has agreed to kill the wrong monster.
Boris I (The Conversion to Christianity & Discourse of Letters)
- Director: Borislav Sharaliev
- Release Date: 1985
- Production Country: Bulgaria
As the 9th century ends, Boris I defends Bulgaria from invaders and leads his people in the conversion to Christianity.
Culture and Math: The Arabs
- Director: Rhonda Fabian
- Release Date: 2006
- Production Country: United States
The origins of Islam in the Arabic peninsula provide a backdrop for how Islam created the civilization that wrote one of the greatest mathematical texts and invented algebra, as well as many other modern systems of mathematical calculation.
El Cid
- Director: Anthony Mann
- Release Date: 1961
- Production Country: Italy, United States
In 11th century Spain, Rodrigo Diaz leads a Spanish Catholic army against the Muslim Moors.
Excalibur
- Director: John Boorman
- Release Date: 1981
- Production Country: United States, United Kingdom
Magic, lust, and ambition complicate and distort the lives of Arthur and his knights, as well as the legacy of Arthur's father, Uther, with his lust for both power and the beautiful Igrayne.
First Knight
- Director: Jerry Zucker
- Release Date: 1995
- Production Country: United States
Young Guenevere refuses to break her promise to marry an aging King Arthur (in return for his protection over her people and her lands), no matter how dashing the young wandering warrior Lancelot may be; but, when Lancelot turns up at Arthur's court, Guenevere realizes that her feelings are not so easily denied, especially when Lancelot refuses to take "no" for an answer.
Gniazdo (The Cradle)
- Director: Jan Rybkowski
- Release Date: 1974
- Production Country: Poland
On the eve of a major battle, Mieszko I, the first king of Poland, falls ill and feverishly reflects upon his reign.
Hrafninn flýgur (When the Raven Flies and Revenge of the Barbarians)
- Director: Hrafn Gunnlaugsson
- Release Date: 1984
- Production Country: Iceland, Sweden
An Irish boy is left alone after Vikings kill his parents and kidnap his sister; once a man, twenty years later, he seeks his kidnapped sister and revenge in 9th-century Iceland.
Hua Mu Lan (Lady General Hua Mulan or Woman General Mulan Hua)
- Director: Feng Yueh
- Release Date: 1964
- Production Country: Hong Kong
Determined to save her frail father and baby brother from conscription into the army, Fa Mulan defeats her father in combat, proving that she can uphold the family honor in battle. And for the next twelve years she does just that, proving her mettle both in battle against the barbarians and in leadership—until the Commanding General himself is so impressed, he wishes to betroth his daughter to this famous war hero.
Hua Mulan (Mulan)
- Director: Jingle Ma, Wei Dong
- Release Date: 2009
- Production Country: United States, China
Hua Mulan dresses as a man to save her father from service in the army, becoming the woman and warrior of legend in China.
Hvíti víkingurinn (Embla or The White Viking)
- Director: Hrafn Gunnlaugsson
- Release Date: 1991
- Production Country: Norway, Denmark, Sweden
To save his wife from the wrath of Norway's Christian king, pagan Askur must help convert Iceland to Christianity.
Hwangsanbul (Once Upon a Time in the Battlefield)
- Director: Jun-ik Lee
- Release Date: 2003
- Production Country: South Korea
As the armies of the Kingdom of Silla march north, the people of Baekje flee in terror, leaving their dissolute king with only one noble, the mighty general Kye-baek, to send to his kingdom's defense, with 5,000 men to defend his country against the 50,000 man strong Silla army when they meet at the pass of Hwangsanbul.
Í skugga hrafnsins (In the Shadow of the Raven)
- Director: Hrafn Gunnlaugsson
- Release Date: 1988
- Production Country: Iceland, Sweden
The traditions of the non-Christian 11th-century Icelandic people cause two rival clans to feud over a beached whale carcass, causing one leader's death and the need for his daughter to marry a Bishop's son in order to ensure peace, despite her love for a rival.
Il Sole di Montecassino (Fear No Evil)
- Director: Giuseppe Maria Scotese
- Release Date: 1945
- Production Country: Italy
As they flee German bombs devastating their city, Italian peasants are convinced they are facing the end of the world, but their parish priest reminds them that the world has ended before, yet civilization persevered, as the story of St. Benedict of Nursia shows. Benedict, an Italian nobleman, founded the Christian monastic movement as a defense against the chaos in Italy when barbarians moved in to fill the vacuum of power during the decline of the Roman Empire.
Ilya Muromets
- Director: Aleksandr Ptushko
- Release Date: 1956
- Production Country: Soviet Union
A crippled Russian peasant given a giant's magical sword rises up and saves his homeland from hordes of rampaging nomads—only to be betrayed afterward and thrown in the Tsar's dungeon. Meanwhile, his young son is captured and adopted by the nomad khan, who raises the boy to be a great warrior and sets the stage for an epic showdown between the father and son when the nomads invade Russia again.
Le bon roi Dagobert (Good King Dagobert)
- Director: Pierre Chevalier
- Release Date: 1963
- Production Country: France, Italy
Assigned to write about an obscure Frankish king as punishment for yet another failure in class, a lackluster student composes an irreverent and anachronistic essay on King Dagobert the First. But he does get a few key things correct—perhaps, most importantly, the fact that most everyone's lives during that time were nasty, brutish, and short.
Lorsque le monde parlait arabe (When the World Spoke Arabic: The Golden Age of Arab Civilization)
- Director: Philippe Calderon
- Release Date: 1999
- Production Country: France
While Europe was mired in feudalism, mud, and ignorance, the Arabic world was the center of learning, science, art, and tolerance.