List of Historical Drama Films - Late Antiquity/Early Middle Ages (5th To 10th Centuries)

Late Antiquity/Early Middle Ages (5th To 10th Centuries)

See also: List of films based on Arthurian legend
Sortable table
Title Release date Time period Notes on setting
King Arthur 2004 early 5th century the Roman withdrawal from Britain and the Battle of Mount Badon
Hagbard and Signe 1967 5th century Scandinavia during the Germanic Heroic Age
Arthur of the Britons 1972–1973 5th century Britain after the Roman withdrawal
The Last Legion 2007 476-490 connecting (in heavily fictionalized fashion) the deposition of the last Roman emperor Romulus Augustus by Odoacer with the Battle of Mount Badon
The Mists of Avalon 2001 late 5th - early 6th centuries heavily fictionalized story of King Arthur
Teodora 1919 c. 500-548 Byzantine empress Theodora
Theodora, Slave Empress 1954 c. 500-548 Byzantine empress Theodora
Kampf um Rom I 1968 527-565 Byzantine emperor Justinian I's reign
Kampf um Rom II 1969 527-565 Byzantine emperor Justinian I's reign
Lovespell 1981 6th century Britain and Ireland- adaptation of the Welsh legend of Tristan and Iseult
Tristan + Isolde 2006 6th century Britain and Ireland - adaptation of the Welsh legend of Tristan and Iseult
Grendel Grendel Grendel 1981 6th century animated film based on the 1971 novel Grendel, retelling the Anglo-Saxon poem from the monster's perspective
Grendel 2007 6th century Denmark in the Germanic Heroic Age - very loose adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf
Beowulf & Grendel 2005 6th century Denmark in the Germanic Heroic Age - loose adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf
Beowulf 2007 6th century Denmark in the Germanic Heroic Age - loose adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf
Hamlet 1964 6th century Denmark in the Germanic Heroic Age - this is a Russian adaptation of the Shakespeare play based on the Danish legend of Amleth
Prince of Jutland 1994 6th century Denmark in the Germanic Heroic Age - legend of Amleth from the Danish Gesta Danorum
Goliath and the Barbarians 1959 568 the Lombard invasion of Italy
The Message 1976 570-632 Arabian Peninsula - the life of Muhammad
681 AD: The Glory of Khan 1981 632-681 epic about the fall of Old Great Bulgaria and the creation of modern day Bulgaria; focuses on Kanasubigi Asparuh's life
Roland the Mighty 1956 778 Roland, a knight of Charlemagne's court who was killed at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass
Charlemagne, le prince à cheval 1993 768-800 Charlemagne's reign up to his coronation as emperor in 800
An Ancient Tale: When the Sun Was a God 2003 c. 800 Poland - the death of Popiel and the rise of Piast the Wheelwright
Attack of the Normans 1962 early 9th century set in England during the Viking Age ("Normans" in the title being used in its original continental sense, meaning "Vikings")
The Last Viking 1997 9th century Viking Age
Pope Joan 1972 9th - 11th century Fictitious medieval legend of a woman who disguised herself as a man and rose to the status of Pope in the Middle Ages.
Pope Joan 2009 814-855(?) Fictitious medieval legend of a woman who disguised herself as a man and rose to the status of Pope in the Middle Ages.
The Vikings 1958 860s highly fictionalized account of the death of Ragnar Lodbrok and the subsequent invasion of Northumbria by two of his sons
Alfred the Great 1969 c. 870-899 England - Alfred the Great, king of Wessex repels the army of Guthrum and begins the unification of England
The Saxon Chronicles 2006 c. 871-899 England - the reign of Alfred the Great
A Viking Saga 2008 870s Russia - the Rus prince Oleg of Novgorod defeats Askold and Dir
Boris I 1985 852-889 St. Boris I Michael (first half of the 9th century - 2 May 907), a Bulgarian tzar who imposed Christianity in AD 865 and introduced the new Slavonic alphabets of Glagolitza and Cyrillic in the Kingdom of Bulgaria
The Conquest 1996 896 Magyar settlement in Hungary
When the Raven Flies 1984 897 Iceland in the Viking Age
Útlaginn 1981 9th century Iceland - adaptation of the saga of Gisli Sursson
Pathfinder 1987 c. 900 Norway - based on a Sami legend
In the Shadow of the Raven 1988 c. 900 Iceland in the Viking Age
White Viking 1991 c. 900 Iceland in the Viking Age
The 13th Warrior 1999 922 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
The Castilian 1963 930-970 Ferdinand Gonzalez: an early hero of the Spanish Reconquista
Gniazdo 1974 c. 972 about Mieszko I of Poland
The Viking Sagas 1995 late 10th, early 11th centuries Iceland - borrows elements from several Icelandic sagas, most notably Laxdœla saga and Njáls saga
The Ceremony of Innocence 1970 978-1016 a fictionalized version of the reign of Æthelred the Unready
Njálssaga 2003 960-1020 Iceland - adaptation of Njáls saga
The Viking 1928 999 or 1000 Leif Ericson and the expedition to North America
Valhalla Rising 2009 1000 Scandinavia and North America in 1000 AD

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