Films set in Late Antiquity/Early Middle Ages (5th to 11th centuries)
by ferreiracarlos1504 | created - 13 Aug 2011 | updated - 18 Sep 2015 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. King Arthur (2004)
PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A demystified take on the tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
Director: Antoine Fuqua | Stars: Clive Owen, Stephen Dillane, Keira Knightley, Ioan Gruffudd
Votes: 176,051 | Gross: $51.88M
The Roman withdrawal from Britain and the Battle of Mount Badon
2. The Last Legion (2007)
PG-13 | 101 min | Action, Adventure, History
As the Roman empire crumbles, young Romulus Augustus flees the city and embarks on a perilous voyage to Britain to track down a legion of supporters.
Director: Doug Lefler | Stars: Colin Firth, Ben Kingsley, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Peter Mullan
Votes: 37,097 | Gross: $5.93M
Connecting (in heavily fictionalized fashion) the deposition of the last Roman emperor Romulus Augustus by Odoacer with the Battle of Mount Badon
3. The 13th Warrior (1999)
R | 102 min | Action, Adventure, History
A 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.
Directors: John McTiernan, Michael Crichton | Stars: Antonio Banderas, Diane Venora, Dennis Storhøi, Vladimir Kulich
Votes: 132,054 | Gross: $32.70M
Blends elements of the historical account of the travels of Ahmad ibn Fadlan (AD 922), the legend of Beowulf (6th century), and the Kurosawa film Seven Samurai
4. Beowulf & Grendel (2005)
R | 103 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In Denmark, during the 6th century, Danish king Hrothgar and his warriors kill a troll whose son, Grendel, vows revenge.
Director: Sturla Gunnarsson | Stars: Hringur Ingvarsson, Spencer Wilding, Stellan Skarsgård, Ingvar Sigurdsson
Votes: 18,589 | Gross: $0.07M
Denmark in the Germanic Heroic Age - loose adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf
5. The Message (1976)
PG | 177 min | Biography, Drama, History
This epic historical drama chronicles the life and times of Prophet Muhammad and serves as an introduction to early Islamic history.
Director: Moustapha Akkad | Stars: Anthony Quinn, Irene Papas, Michael Ansara, Johnny Sekka
Votes: 50,813
Arabian Peninsula - the life of Muhammad
6. Alfred the Great (I) (1969)
M/PG | 122 min | Drama, History, War
While Old England is being ransacked by roving Danes in the ninth century, Alfred is planning to join the priesthood. But observing the rape of his land, he puts away his religious vows, to... See full summary »
Director: Clive Donner | Stars: David Hemmings, Michael York, Prunella Ransome, Colin Blakely
Votes: 1,118
England - Alfred the Great, king of Wessex repels the army of Guthrum and begins the unification of England
7. The War Lord (1965)
Approved | 123 min | Drama, History, Romance
In 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.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Charlton Heston, Richard Boone, Rosemary Forsyth, Maurice Evans
Votes: 3,683
Normans fend off Vikings in the Early Middle Ages
8. The Mists of Avalon (2001)
Unrated | 92 min | Drama, Fantasy
Tales of Camelot and Avalon, told from the perspective of the women of Uther and Arthur Pendragon's world.
Stars: Anjelica Huston, Julianna Margulies, Joan Allen, Samantha Mathis
Votes: 10,391
Connecting (in heavily fictionalized fashion) the story of King Arthur.
9. Valhalla Rising (2009)
Not Rated | 93 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Forced for some time to be a fighting slave, a pagan warrior escapes his captors with a boy and joins a group of Crusaders on their quest to the Holy Land.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn | Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Maarten Stevenson, Alexander Morton, Stewart Porter
Votes: 63,631 | Gross: $0.02M
Scandinavia and North America in 1000 AD.
10. Pope Joan (2009)
149 min | Drama, History, Romance
A 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.
Director: Sönke Wortmann | Stars: Johanna Wokalek, David Wenham, John Goodman, Iain Glen
Votes: 9,110
A possibly fictitious woman who supposedly disguised herself as a man and rose to the status of Pope in the 9th century
11. Beowulf (2007)
PG-13 | 115 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
The warrior Beowulf must fight and defeat the monster Grendel, who is terrorizing Denmark, then Grendel's Mother, who begins killing out of revenge.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Ray Winstone, Crispin Glover, Angelina Jolie, Robin Wright
Votes: 174,118 | Gross: $82.16M
Denmark in the Germanic Heroic Age - loose adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf
12. The Saxon Chronicles (2006)
120 min | Action, Drama, History
Set in the 9th century, Alfred the Great, England's most influential and inspiring king, escapes his kingdom when it is attacked by the Viking Horde. Anguished and alone he finds himself in... See full summary »
Director: Jeshua De Horta | Stars: Darin Scott, James C. Morris, Doug Guibord, Dan Christensen
Votes: 51
England - the reign of Alfred the Great
13. Tristan + Isolde (2006)
PG-13 | 125 min | Action, Drama, Romance
An affair between the second in line to Britain's throne and the princess of the feuding Irish spells doom for the young lovers.
Director: Kevin Reynolds | Stars: James Franco, Sophia Myles, Rufus Sewell, David O'Hara
Votes: 54,286 | Gross: $14.73M
Britain and Ireland - adaptation of the Welsh legend of Tristan and Iseult.
14. King Lear (1999)
Not Rated | 190 min | Drama
King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly ... See full summary »
Directors: Brian Blessed, Tony Rotherham | Stars: Brian Blessed, Hildegard Neil, Jason Riddington, Phillipa Peak
Votes: 99
Celtic pre-Roman Britain
15. Den sidste viking (1997)
88 min | Action, Drama
The son of Viking Harald is left behind in his village with women and children, when his father joins a group of rebels. They are revolving against the king, but the king takes revenge by ... See full summary »
Director: Jesper W. Nielsen | Stars: Holger Thaarup, René Hansen, Moa Lagercrantz, Marika Lagercrantz
Votes: 248
Viking Age
16. Royal Deceit (1994)
R | 107 min | Adventure, Drama
An old Norse legend of revenge, power and human spirit, that subsequently inspired William Shakespeare on his tragedy - Hamlet.
Director: Gabriel Axel | Stars: Gabriel Byrne, Helen Mirren, Christian Bale, Brian Cox
Votes: 2,463
Denmark in the Germanic Heroic Age - legend of Amleth from the Danish Gesta Danorum
17. Charlemagne (1993– )
90 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
Young Charlemagns is placed on the Frankish throne in the middle of the 8th Century A.D. Despite having many powerful enemies he slowly unites the nations of Western Europe and rebuilds civilization on the ruins of the Roman Empire.
Stars: Christian Brendel, Anny Duperey, Lino Capolicchio, Gilles Gaston-Dreyfus
Votes: 236
Charlemagne's reign up to his coronation as emperor in 800
18. Pathfinder (2007)
R | 99 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A Viking boy is left behind after his clan battles a Native American tribe. Raised within the tribe, he ultimately becomes their savior in a fight against the Norsemen.
Director: Marcus Nispel | Stars: Karl Urban, Clancy Brown, Moon Bloodgood, Russell Means
Votes: 46,263 | Gross: $10.23M
19. Pathfinder (1987)
86 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A young Sámi man witnesses a band of vicious raiders slay his family and flees to a nearby village, where he learns he must become a Pathfinder.
Director: Nils Gaup | Stars: Mikkel Gaup, Ingvald Guttorm, Nils Utsi, Henrik H. Buljo
Votes: 5,599
Norway - based on a Sami legend
20.
NET Playhouse (1964–1972)
Episode:
The Ceremony of Innocence
(1970)
88 min | Biography, Drama, History
Events leading up to Sweyn Forkbeard's invasion of England in AD 1013.
Directors: Ken Rockefeller, Arthur Allan Seidelman | Stars: Richard Kiley, James Broderick, Larry Gates, Robert Gerringer
Votes: 29
A fictionalized version of the reign of Æthelred the Unready.
21. King Lear (1970)
GP | 137 min | Drama
King Lear divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia refuses to idly flatter the old man, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters.
Director: Peter Brook | Stars: Paul Scofield, Irene Worth, Cyril Cusack, Susan Engel
Votes: 936
Celtic pre-Roman Britain.
22. Pope Joan (1972)
PG | 132 min | Biography, Drama, History
In medieval Europe, a pious young woman becomes a scholar of theology, disguises herself as a man, rises through the Catholic Church hierarchy and is elected Pope.
Director: Michael Anderson | Stars: Liv Ullmann, Jeremy Kemp, Natasa Nicolescu, Sharon Winter
Votes: 396
A possibly fictitious woman who supposedly disguised herself as a man and rose to the status of Pope in the 9th century
23. Arthur of the Britons (1972–1973)
30 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Celts fighting among themselves and the Saxons in 5th century Briton after the Roman pullout.
Stars: Oliver Tobias, Michael Gothard, Jack Watson, Brian Blessed
Votes: 180
Britain after the Roman withdrawal
24. Excalibur (1981)
PG | 140 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Merlin the magician helps Arthur Pendragon unite the Britons around the Round Table of Camelot, even as dark forces conspire to tear it apart.
Director: John Boorman | Stars: Nigel Terry, Helen Mirren, Nicholas Clay, Cherie Lunghi
Votes: 67,138 | Gross: $34.97M
25. The Vikings (1958)
Not Rated | 116 min | Action, Adventure, History
A slave and a Viking prince fight for the love of a captive princess.
Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Ernest Borgnine, Janet Leigh
Votes: 15,683 | Gross: $7.00M
Highly fictionalized account of the death of Ragnar Lodbrok and the subsequent invasion of Northumbria by two of his sons
26. Camelot (2011)
TV-MA | 45 min | Drama, Fantasy
When King Uther dies and Britain faces chaos, Merlin presents an unknown named Arthur as the new king by birthright, as the late king's son, against the ambitious desires of his half-sister, Morgan.
Stars: Joseph Fiennes, Jamie Campbell Bower, Tamsin Egerton, Peter Mooney
Votes: 24,642
27. Ye yan (2006)
Not Rated | 131 min | Action, Drama, Fantasy
A loose adaptation of Hamlet, "The Night Banquet" is set in an empire in chaos. The Emperor, the Empress, the Crown Prince, the Minister and the General all have their own enemies they would like to finish off at a night banquet.
Director: Xiaogang Feng | Stars: Ziyi Zhang, You Ge, Daniel Wu, Xun Zhou
Votes: 7,170
28. Hamlet (1990)
PG | 135 min | Drama
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, finds out that his uncle Claudius killed his father to obtain the throne, and plans revenge.
Director: Franco Zeffirelli | Stars: Mel Gibson, Glenn Close, Alan Bates, Paul Scofield
Votes: 23,599 | Gross: $20.71M
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