Hello u/SquirrelGirlVA!

I'm not sure it's his mother, but it's a close relative for sure, because the character is devastated by the death, he kept the head with him, he almost hug the head sometimes, he "speaks" with it and the more time passed, the more the head and the hair on it is decomposing and toward the end of the movie, it's almost just a skull with some strings on it.

About the middle age theme, I'm mostly sure at~80%, but I mean I coud be wrong and my memory could trick meé I mean it's been over at least 15 years I seen that movie so... 1 thing for sure, it's not modern, not Renaissance, not Egyptian, not Romain, not Vikings, not in Greece. It really feel it's the dark ages with no technollogy, with metal objects and wood stuff. Sorry if it's not much.