ABSTRACT
Critics who study direct narrative representations of medieval combat tend, as a general rule, to subordinate the spatial relationships involved in these representations to issues of character, structure, and theme. The prevailing critical approach does not accurately represent the manner in which most medieval readers would have interpreted direct narrative representations of medieval combat. Narrative descriptions and representations of medieval weapons demand of their reader both an understanding of the spatial dynamics of combat and an ability to translate static words and (on occasion) pictures into dynamic bodily movements. We must develop new forms of critical media that are capable of effectively communicating spatial significations to cognitive verbalizers. Digital animation is such a medium.
