Sweetheart Abbey Breviary acquired by National Library of Scotland
A monastic treasure written in Scotland 700 years ago has been acquired by the National Library of Scotland.
The Medieval Magazine: Monasticism (Volume 2 Issue 3)
Monasticism in the Middle Ages is the focus of this week’s issue of the magazine – we take a look at the role of abbot and the challenges of managing a medieval monastery. You can also read about the Teutonic Knights, the sanctuary of Michael Skellig, and how a 600-year old ship was raised from a river last week.
Bede’s World closes, Fundraising campaign hopes to revive museum
Bede’s World, a museum dedicated to the life and times of the Venerable Bede, suddenly announced their closure last week, claiming a lack of funds. Now efforts are underway to save the site.
Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville: A True Romance
Read an excerpt from Amy Licence’s new book on the 15th century royal couple.
Can You Solve Alcuin’s Puzzles?
A man had to take a wolf, a goat and a bunch of cabbages across a river. The only boat he could find could only take two of them at a time. But he had been ordered to transfer all of these to the other side in good condition. How could this be done.
Margery and John Paston: Fifteenth-Century Valentines
As we celebrate the day dedicated to love letters, it seems appropriate to share a Valentine’s Day story from one of the most famous letter-writing families of the Middle Ages: the Pastons.
Chastity belts and birthing girdles
Chastity belts have been the subject of schoolroom and music hall humour for as long as most of us can remember. But did they really exist and for the purpose suggested?
Amorous encounters in Medieval French chess
The question I want to look at today is how chess is used in presenting these questions of love, of the amorous encounter, of the meeting between two people and the potential for feelings the might result from it.
Two models of incest: Conflict and confusion in high medieval discourse on kinship and marriage
In the present paper, I will address these paradoxes by looking at two very dissimilar branches of the medieval discourse on endogamy and exogamy, and more specifically at different justifications of marriage prohibitions as found in systematic canon law collections of the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
Five Medieval Love Tokens
Here are five popular gifts of love from the Middle Ages.
Researchers discover a ‘Little Ice Age’ in the 6th century
‘This was the most dramatic cooling in the Northern Hemisphere in the past 2000 years.’
Flood-hit Medieval Guildhall to reopen for JORVIK Viking Festival
York’s Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, which was badly affected by the Boxing Day floods in the city, is to reopen to the public in…
The Medieval Magazine: Love and Marriage (Volume 2 Issue 2)
Love and Marriage is the theme of this week’s issue, as we take a look at love-letters from the 12th-century, and defining marriage in the 13th. Read about the dangers of weddings in Italy, and the possibility of mixed-religious unions in Poland.
The Vikings, their worms, and the diseases they got
The Vikings and people of the Norse world would have been predisposed to emphysema and other lung conditions, according to a paper published last week in Nature: Scientific Reports.
Functions of Chess in Medieval French Literature
Edward Mills examines the functions of the game of chess in medieval French literary culture.
The Noisy Middle Ages
Let’s take five minutes to lend the Middle Ages an ear.
Almost a Millennium, by Jeanbill
Almost a Millennium, by Jeanbill, is an eclectic novel about the unlikely connection between an English monk and an American physician that lived nearly 1,000 years apart, one of today and one in the medieval period.
Creating a crusader saint: Canute Lavard and others of that ilk
In the Middle Ages, saints were invoked before great, decisive battles, they sometimes participated directly themselves, and they did so more and more often after the eleventh and especially the twelfth century.
Digital Media and Medieval Studies Workshop at the International Medieval Congress
We at Medievalists.net are proud to announce that we will be delivering a workshop at the 2016 International Medieval Congress
How to Get Out of a Conviction in the Middle Ages
Whether you’re guilty or innocent, here are five handy tips to help you avoid getting convicted in a medieval court.
Saladin and the Problem of the Counter-Crusade in Medieval Europe
The phrase Counter-Crusade is, obviously, a modern construct, but in 1144 the military situation in Syria did drastically change.
Support Structures in Crusading Armies, 1095-1241
This thesis will examine the support structures in crusading armies from the First Crusade, launched in 1095, to the end of the Barons’ Crusade, in 1241.
The Medieval Magazine: The First Crusade (Volume 2 Issue 1)
For our one-year anniversary issue we focus on the First Crusade, and ask were Christians and Muslims allies during this event? The answer might surprise you. We have more about the First Crusade, including interviews with two historians that specialize in the topic.
BOOK REVIEW: Grendel’s Mother: The Saga of the Wyrd-Wife by Susan Signe Morrison
Grendel’s Mother tells the story of Brimhild, a child found abandoned in a boat on the shores of Denmark. Taken in by a…
If it Thunders in February…
If you hear thunder in February, it could mean bountiful crops are coming, or war and death will come down upon the wealthy. Here is your day-to-day guide on thunder from the sixth century.