This collection explores playful ways of fostering creative engagements with the medieval and early modern past and its own literary and artistic products, especially among those new to their study.

As scholars and teachers of early English, the contributors cover literary and cultural material from a range of genres within the Old English, Middle English, Tudor, and Stuart periods and collectively delve into a shared interest in facilitating what we might loosely define as 'newcomer' or 'non-specialist' encounters with the past: initial, exploratory contact in which prior knowledge cannot be assumed, whether involving creative professionals, experts from other disciplines, undergraduate and school students, or members of the public. Considering artworks and installation, theatre and performance and curation practices, case studies offer practice-based examples of learning and engagement which proceed primarily through creative and playful approaches. The case studies are arranged into two broad groups: those which work through performance and theatrical play of various kinds, and those which work through playful practices of production and making. All share a perspective of irreverence, of vivid immersion, and of the possibilities of conjuring with the past.

Teaching medieval history should engage students in the real work of professional medievalists. However, many undergraduate courses rely on instructional strategies that only engage students in rote retention of medieval 'stuff' and unsupported writing assignments. With trends in the USA and elsewhere showing declining undergraduate enrollment in the humanities and an increasing number of questions from university administrators regarding the utility of the liberal arts, historians need to reassess how they teach. Project-based learning (PBL) is one approach that may help medieval history instructors offer coursework that is more engaging for today's undergraduate students and provide administrators a clearer picture of the utility of studying the past. The pedagogy of PBL actively engages students in projects reflective of the real work being done by medievalists, allowing instructors to move beyond the traditional narrative found in many undergraduate survey courses. This book provides an overview of PBL theory, methods for incorporating PBL into an undergraduate medieval history course, instructional strategies, scalable assessment formats, and other resources useful for any history classroom.