History: Best movies about Middle Ages
Including rare old movies from Eastern Europe and Skandinavia
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- DirectorAnthony HarveyStarsPeter O'TooleKatharine HepburnAnthony Hopkins1183 A.D.: King Henry II's three sons all want to inherit the throne, but he won't commit to a choice. When he allows his imprisoned wife Eleanor of Aquitaine out for a Christmas visit, they all variously plot to force him into a decision.
- DirectorAndrey KonchalovskiyStarsGlenn ClosePatrick StewartJonathan Rhys MeyersKing Henry II meets with Eleanor of Aquitaine at Christmastide 1183 to choose one of his sons as his successor.
- DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsRutger HauerJennifer Jason LeighTom BurlinsonIn medieval Europe, a young girl from a noble family is obsessed with her captors - commoners.
- DirectorJohn McTiernanMichael CrichtonStarsAntonio BanderasDiane VenoraDennis StorhøiA man, having fallen in love with the wrong woman, is sent by the sultan himself on a diplomatic mission to a distant land as an ambassador. Stopping at a Viking village port to restock on supplies, he finds himself unwittingly embroiled in a quest to banish a mysterious threat in a distant Viking land.
- DirectorRichard DonnerStarsMatthew BroderickRutger HauerMichelle PfeifferThe thief Gaston escapes the dungeon of medieval Aquila through the latrine. Soldiers are about to kill him when Navarre saves him. Navarre, traveling with his spirited hawk, plans to kill the bishop of Aquila with help from Gaston.
- StarsAnton LesserSimon Russell BealeTom GeorgesonA mini-series of adaptations of Shakespeare's history plays: Richard II, Henry IV: Parts 1 and 2, and Henry V.
- DirectorBrian HelgelandStarsHeath LedgerMark AddyRufus SewellAfter his master dies, a peasant squire, fueled by his desire for food and glory, creates a new identity for himself as a knight.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsOrlando BloomEva GreenLiam NeesonBalian of Ibelin travels to Jerusalem during the Crusades of the 12th century, and there he finds himself as the defender of the city and its people.
- DirectorSergei EisensteinDmitriy VasilevStarsNikolay CherkasovNikolai OkhlopkovAndrei AbrikosovThe story of how a great Russian prince led a ragtag army to battle an invading force of Teutonic Knights.
- DirectorKevin ReynoldsStarsKevin CostnerMorgan FreemanMary Elizabeth MastrantonioRobin Hood decides to fight back as an outlaw when faced with the tyranny of the Sheriff of Nottingham.
- StarsDerek JacobiMichael CulverJulian FirthThe medieval era cases of a Crusader-turned-Monk who investigates mysteries in the Norman English town of Shrewsbury.
- DirectorTerry GilliamTerry JonesStarsGraham ChapmanJohn CleeseEric IdleKing Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table embark on a surreal, low-budget search for the Holy Grail, encountering many, very silly obstacles.And all the others movies about King Arthur
- DirectorMel GibsonStarsMel GibsonSophie MarceauPatrick McGoohanScottish warrior William Wallace leads his countrymen in a rebellion to free his homeland from the tyranny of King Edward I of England.
- DirectorLuc BessonStarsMilla JovovichJohn MalkovichRab AffleckA young girl receives a vision that drives her to rid France of its oppressors.
- DirectorJean-Jacques AnnaudStarsSean ConneryChristian SlaterHelmut QualtingerAn intellectually nonconformist friar investigates a series of mysterious deaths in an isolated abbey.
- CreatorMichael HirstStarsKatheryn WinnickGustaf SkarsgårdAlexander LudwigVikings transports us to the brutal and mysterious world of Ragnar Lothbrok, a Viking warrior and farmer who yearns to explore--and raid--the distant shores across the ocean.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsKirk DouglasTony CurtisErnest BorgnineA slave and a Viking prince fight for the love of a captive princess.
- DirectorJonathan EnglishStarsPaul GiamattiJason FlemyngBrian CoxIn thirteenth-century England, a Knights Templar and a few of the Barons men fight to defend Rochester Castle against the tyrannical King John.
- StarsAneurin BarnardRebecca FergusonAmanda HaleThree different, yet equally relentless women vie for the throne in 15th-century England.
- DirectorPeter FlinthStarsJoakim NätterqvistSofia HelinStellan SkarsgårdArn, the son of a high-ranking Swedish nobleman, is educated in a monastery and sent to the Holy Land as a knight templar to do penance for a forbidden love.
- DirectorPeter FlinthStarsJoakim NätterqvistSofia HelinStellan SkarsgårdThe Knight Arn is sent on a last mission against Saladin. He has to win this battle, before he can go home to Sweden, and finally marry his Cecilia and start a family. But the peace back home is threatened by the Danes.
- StarsMichelle JennerRamon MadaulaRodolfo SanchoThe life of Isabella I of Castile, also known as Isabella the Catholic.
- DirectorJordi FradesStarsRodolfo SanchoIrene EscolarRaúl MéridaIn a Spain consumed by ambition and power, the future of an empire depends on one woman's state of mind.
- DirectorVicente ArandaStarsPilar López de AyalaDaniele LiottiRosana PastorThe love story that transformed Juana, Queen of Spain, into Juana "the Mad". A story of passions, lies and jealousy with a political motive behind.
- DirectorLiv UllmannStarsElisabeth MathesonBjørn SkagestadSverre Anker OusdalKristin is the daughter of a prominent landowner in medieval Norway. She grows up in total harmony with the ideals of the time: strong family ties, social pride and devout Christianity. She accepts the fact that her father has arranged for her to marry the son of another landowner. Kristin's beauty and purity create violent emotions around her. There are envy and attempted rape, murder and revenge. She seeks refuge from the world in a convent, awaiting the time for her marriage. Here the passion of her life strikes, the knight Erlend Nikulaussonn. He, an accomplished seducer, also falls hopelessly in love. They have to cross not only convent walls to meet, but social boundaries as well. Their love cannot be kept secret, and suddenly the innocent Kristin is the centre of a scandal. Her fiance withdraws from their engagement, her father rages, and Erlend's former mistress tries to poison her. The affair grows into a political issue, and finally some of the country's most dignified leaders persuade Lavrans to give in. The lovers win each other, but it is in front of a charred altar in a burnt down church, and their happiness has a double edge.
- DirectorNils GaupStarsJakob OftebroKristofer HivjuTorkel Dommersnes SoldalIn the year 1206 Norway is raged by civil war. The King's illegitimate infant son, Håkon Håkonsson, which half the kingdom wants killed off, is guarded in secrecy by two men. A story which changed the course of the country's history.
- DirectorRoar UthaugStarsIsabel Christine AndreasenIngrid Bolsø BerdalMilla OlinSigne, spared from death to produce a child, befriends a little girl, Frigg, and escapes from the camp.
- DirectorSturla GunnarssonStarsHringur IngvarssonSpencer WildingStellan SkarsgårdIn Denmark, during the 6th century, Danish king Hrothgar and his warriors kill a troll whose son, Grendel, vows revenge.
- DirectorStanislav RostotskiyKnut AndersenOla SolumStarsAleksandr TimoshkinPetronella BarkerTor StokkeVikings attack Kuksja's village, and end up bringing him along on their ship because they believe he is good luck. After proving himself in a battle against the dreaded Danes, chief Torir bestows upon him the name of Einar and takes him in as his son. Back home in Norway the men are received as heros, but new trouble arises when Kuksja falls in love with the beautiful Signy, who is already betroth to the vicious Sigurd.
- StarsAlexander DreymonEliza ButterworthArnas FedaraviciusAs Alfred the Great defends his kingdom from Norse invaders, Uhtred--born a Saxon but raised by Vikings--seeks to claim his ancestral birthright.
- StarsBen ChaplinCharlotte RileyNora WaldstättenThe English town of Kingsbridge works to survive as the King leads the nation into the Hundred Years' War with France while Europe deals with the outbreak of the Black Death.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsMax von SydowGunnar BjörnstrandBengt EkerotA knight returning to Sweden after the Crusades seeks answers about life, death, and the existence of God as he plays chess against the Grim Reaper during the Black Plague.
- DirectorPupi AvatiStarsLuigi DibertiArnaldo NinchiMassimo BellinzoniDuring the Middle Ages, a traveling executioner hires an apprentice to learn the finer points of torture and execution, and a young girl is given by her parents to a Catholic convent.
- DirectorAndré HunebelleStarsJean MaraisRosanna SchiaffinoRoger HaninIn the 15th century France, only one honest knight stands up on protection of a young noblewoman when she finds herself trapped in enmity between a king and a treacherous nobility.
- StarsGilles BéhatHélène DucJean-Luc MoreauSet during the reigns of the last five kings of the Capetian dynasty and the first two kings of the House of Valois, the series begins as the French King Philip the Fair, already surrounded by scandal and intrigue, brings a curse upon his family when he persecutes the Knights Templar. The succession of monarchs that follows leads France and England to the Hundred Years' War.
- StarsJeanne MoreauPhilippe TorretonClaude RichBased on the novel of the same name by Maurice Druon, Les Rois maudits (The Cursed Kings) is the second television adaptation of this seven-volume book which is widely agreed to be an accurate representation of actual events. It is the early 1300's and the treasury of France, under the rule of Philippe IV (Philippe le Bel or Philippe the Beautiful), is empty. The king decides the only solution is to raid the treasures of the Knights Templar (amongst others) and concocts various charges of treason, heresy and deviance against the Knights and their Grand Master Jacques de Molay. Having confessed under torture to the crimes of which he is accused, de Molay is condemned to be burned at the stake. With his dying breath he curses the king, the king's advisor (Guillaume de Nogaret), the pope (Pope Clement V) and the thirteen succeeding generations of their families. There follows one of the most dramatic periods in French history, half a century of political intrigue, murder, treason, war and famine, which ultimately culminates in the 100 Years War.
- DirectorHenri HelmanStarsJacques PerrinFlorence PernelGaëlle BonaA messenger comes to the old sick king Louis XI with the rumor that the he must be soon assassinated by his own lords. It is not difficult for the king to learn everything. He survives his final battle.
- DirectorVáclav KrístekStarsIgor ChmelaCyril DobrýZdenek Dusek
- DirectorErich HörtnaglStarsIzabella ScorupcoCarl-Einar HäcknerRolf LassgårdIzabella Scorupco plays Carla, who is a con-artist somewhere in medieval Sweden. Carla is disguised as a man and she is selling a "product" called Petri tårar (Tears of St. Peter). This product cures every sickness. In order to promote her product she promises to wake up from the dead all citizens of the town who have died within the last ten years. Both the bishop and the mayor are alarmed as they fear loss of influence over them and try to work against Carla. There are also many citizens who don't want to see their "loved ones" wake up from the dead. In order to make things more confusing, Carla and the son of the mayor, Mark, fall in love with each other.
- DirectorFrantisek VlácilStarsJosef KemrMagda VásáryováNada HejnaA grim portrayal of the shift from Paganism to Christianity in medieval central Europe - as a young virgin promised to God is kidnapped and raped by a marauder who her religious father seeks to kill in return.
- DirectorFrantisek VlácilStarsPetr CepekJan KacerVera GalatíkováOndrej, a young boy who loves bees and bats, is introduced to his new mother, a woman much younger than his father. He brings her a basketful of flowers which she starts to throw in the air and then gives out a shriek, as she discovers several bats in the bottom of the bowl. In a rage, Ondrej's father picks the boy up and hurls him against the wall. As the boy lays on the ground paralyzed the father promises the Holy Virgin to dedicate the boy to her if she spares his life. Ondrej survives and is raised in a strict Knightly Order, where he is mentored by a devout monk, Armin. But one day, an extraordinary event makes him doubt the Order and remember where he came from.
- DirectorChristopher SmithStarsEddie RedmayneSean BeanCarice van HoutenSet during the time of the first outbreak of bubonic plague in England, a young monk is given the task of learning the truth about reports of people being brought back to life in a small village.
- DirectorMarijonas GiedrysStarsAntanas SurnaEugenija PleskyteAlgimantas MasiulisHistorical costume drama about the medieval wars of Old Prussians and Teutonic Crusaders. Hercus Monte (Latin: Henricus Montemin, German: Heinrich Monte, Lithuanian: Herkus Mantas) was the most famous leader of the Old Prussians during the Northern Crusades. This film is based on his biography.
- StarsClément SibonyLouise PasteauCarlo BrandtThe 14th century France is plunged into the endless war with England, and the plague has already declined the population. There is, however, a refuge of people who try to escape all the horrors. It is the Commandery of the Hospitaller knights.
- StarsIan McShaneMatthew MacfadyenEddie RedmayneSet against a backdrop of war, religious strife and power struggles which tears lives and families apart.
- DirectorDerek JarmanStarsSteven WaddingtonKevin CollinsAndrew TiernanIn this Derek Jarman version of Christopher Marlowe's Elizabethan drama, in modern costumes and settings, Plantagenet king Edward II hands the power-craving nobility the perfect excuse by taking as lover besides his diplomatic wife, the French princess Isabel, not an acceptable lady at court but the ambitious Piers Gaveston, who uses his favor in bed even to wield political influence - the stage is set for a palace revolt which sends the gay pair from the throne to a terminal torture dungeon.
- CreatorGil GrantStarsNigel TerryCherie LunghiJames FaulknerIn 14th-century England, the Grey family--widower Thomas Grey and his children--deal with romance, political intrigue, and war.
- DirectorJos StellingStarsEric BaisSander BaisKees BakkerA sparkling film and surprising look into the middle ages by means of the story of Mariken, whose beauty is used by the devilish comedian Moenen to put people up against each other.
- DirectorGabriel AxelStarsOleg VidovGitte HænningEva DahlbeckThe young beloveds fight for their love in medieval Scandinavia.
- DirectorGabriel AxelStarsGabriel ByrneHelen MirrenChristian BaleAn old Norse legend of revenge, power and human spirit, that subsequently inspired William Shakespeare on his tragedy - Hamlet.
- DirectorAleksander FordStarsUrszula ModrzynskaGrazyna StaniszewskaAndrzej SzalawskiIn the 15th century the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is facing a hard struggle against the neighboring Teutonic Order.Frequent clashes between the two powers finally culminate in 1410 with the Battle of Grunwald.
- DirectorJerzy HoffmanStarsMichal ZebrowskiMarina AleksandrovaMalgorzata ForemniakIn the 9th century, a tyrant oppresses pre-Christian Slavic tribes living on the Polish lands. They must unite for the common future.
- DirectorLeslie MegaheyStarsColin FirthAmina AnnabiJim CarterIn medieval France, young lawyer Richard Courtois leaves Paris for the simpler life in the country. However, he is soon drawn into amorous and political intrigues. At the same time, he is pushed to defend a pig, owned by the mysterious gypsy Samira. The pig has been arrested for the murder of a young boy.
- DirectorPaul McGuiganStarsWillem DafoePaul BettanyMarián AguileraA priest on the lam takes up with a traveling band of actors, who then discover a murder has occurred and try to solve it by recreating the crime in a play.
- DirectorFranklin J. SchaffnerStarsCharlton HestonRichard BooneRosemary ForsythIn 11th century Normandy, a Norman duke sends one of his knights to build a defensive fortress in order to guard the borders against Frisian raiders.
- DirectorBertrand TavernierStarsBernard-Pierre DonnadieuJulie DelpyNils TavernierIn Medieval France, a warrior returns home after four years of war and captivity. It is his delicate daughter who must deal now with his rage and frustration.
- DirectorKevin ReynoldsStarsJames FrancoSophia MylesRufus SewellAn affair between the second in line to Britain's throne and the princess of the feuding Irish spells doom for the young lovers.
- DirectorSönke WortmannStarsJohanna WokalekDavid WenhamJohn GoodmanA woman of English extraction born in the German city of Ingelheim in the ninth century disguises herself as a man and rises through the Vatican ranks.
- DirectorFranco ZeffirelliStarsGraham FaulknerJudi BowkerLeigh LawsonDramatization of events in the life of St. Francis of Assisi from before his conversion experience through his audience with the pope, including his friendship with St. Clare.
- DirectorPier Paolo PasoliniStarsHugh GriffithLaura BettiNinetto DavoliPasolini's artistic, sometimes violent, always vividly cinematic retelling of some of Chaucer's most erotic tales.
- DirectorRainer WolffhardtStarsHeinz BaumannHeinrich SchweigerRobert BürknerThomas Becket, the wise Chancellor of King Henry II, becomes an advocate of ecclesiastical rights against secular majesty as Archbishop of Canterbury. His transformation to the point of martyrdom has prompted numerous poets to create art.
- DirectorPeter GlenvilleStarsRichard BurtonPeter O'TooleJohn GielgudKing Henry II of England comes to terms with his affection for his close friend and confidant Thomas Becket, who finds his true honor by observing God's divine will rather than the King's.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsCharlton HestonSophia LorenRaf ValloneThe fabled Spanish hero Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar (a.k.a. El Cid) overcomes a family vendetta and court intrigue to defend Christian Spain against the Moors.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsRussell CroweCate BlanchettMatthew MacfadyenIn twelfth-century England, Robin Longstride and his band of marauders confront corruption in a local village and lead an uprising against the crown that will forever alter the balance of world power.
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsRobert TaylorElizabeth TaylorJoan FontaineA knight seeks to free the captive King Richard and put him back on the throne.
- StarsCiarán HindsSusan LynchVictoria SmurfitAfter returning from the Third Crusade in the Holy Land, Ivanhoe discovers that England is under the rule of the corrupt Prince John.
- DirectorSergey TarasovStarsTamara AkulovaPeteris GaudinsBoris KhimichevThe knight Ivanhoe comes back from a crusade and tries to restore the honor, the rights for the inheritance and to achieve a hand of the beloved. This the historian - the adventure saga about the noble knight who appears the involved in furious fight for the English throne between prince John and his brother king Richard.
- DirectorSergey TarasovStarsRegina RazumaBoris KhmelnitskiyVija ArtmaneWith a traditional archery contest, the winner wins a silver arrow with gold lace and gold feathers. Even Robin Hood, although unrecognizable, takes part in this competition. As more and more participants are losing and Robin Hood eventually wins the award, his masquerade reveals. For none of the participants is as handy with a bow and an arrow like Robin Hood. With the help of his coolness and his friends Robin Hood may escape the dangerous situation.
- DirectorAleksandr InshakovStarsSergey BezrukovIrina BezrukovaAleksandr InshakovThe action of the movie is set in the late 11th century Constantinople during the time of the 1st Crusade. The crusaders need the help of the emperor Alexius to get to Jerusalem while the latter tries to do his best to get rid of the unwelcome guests. At the same time Caesar Nicephorus plays his own game and betrays his royal fiancée Anna Comnena while trying to win the heart of the beautiful countess Brigitta.