Fantastic Beasts – Find them at the Getty
Unicorns, lions, and griffins – you can find real and fantastical beasts in Los Angeles, as the J. Paul Getty Museum hosts an exhibition on Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World.
Doing Things beside Domesday Book
Domesday Book is the collective name attached to two different bodies of text. Colloquially known as “Great” and “Little” Domesday, they represent successive documentary phases of the inquest undertaken by agents of William the Conqueror in 1086.
Cultures of Clothing in Later Medieval and Early Modern Europe
In this introductory essay, I intend to clarify the discipline of costume history by offering an overview and synthesis of the scholarship of the last two decades
Pope Gregory VII and Count Eblous II of Roucy’s Proto-Crusade in Iberia c. 1073
This article surveys the surviving material regarding Gregory VII and Eblous of Roucy’s expedition to Iberia c. 1073.
Which books about the Vikings should I read?
There are many books about the Vikings and the Norse world for someone to choose from. Here is a list of books we think are a good reads about the Vikings – ones that are both fairly new and relatively inexpensive.
From peasant to Byzantine emperor: the remarkable career of Basil the ‘Macedonian’
The unexpected rise of Basil and the obscurity of his origins resulted in one of the most striking features of the history of the early Macedonian dynasty: the growth of a myth around his birth, his early life and achievements
Medieval Reads: Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey is rather important in showing us how people responded in the early nineteenth century to the making of history into the mysterious and the dangerous. It shows us the mirror through which many young people viewed the Middle Ages.
Children of a One-Eyed God: Impairment in the Myth and Memory of Medieval Scandinavia
This thesis counters scholarly assumptions that the impaired were universally marginalized across medieval Europe. It argues that bodily difference in the Norse world was only viewed as a limitation when it prevented an individual from fulfilling roles that contributed to their community.
Medieval tower in Afghanistan collapses
One of the medieval towers in the Afghan city of Ghazni has collapsed, with video footage showing its dramatic fall.
How the borders of the Caucasus changed in the Middle Ages
One of the lesser known regions of the medieval world was the Caucasus – the lands now spanning the present-day countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
The Land of Darkness and the Global Middle Ages
Why do we find coins from Central Asia and silver from Iran in Lincolnshire? What prompted medieval people to pack up and look for opportunity and adventure elsewhere?
Study examines the food fallout from the Vandal sack of Rome
The findings suggest that the political upheaval following the Vandal sack of Rome in AD 455 and the 6th century wars between the Ostrogoths and the Byzantines may have had a direct impact on the food resources and diet of those working at Portus Romae.
Medieval finds at English monastic site
A community archaeological dig in part of the former Abbey of St Edmund in southeastern England has unearthed a medieval ring and pottery.
Myths about the Middle Ages that are so very, very wrong!
This week, Danièle asked her listeners which myths about the Middle Ages really drive them crazy. From the Flat Earth to daily hygiene, here is our attempt to shed light on some of the most common (but wrong!) ideas we have about the Middle Ages.
What the DNA of grapes tells us about ancient and medieval wine
A grape variety still used in wine production in France today can be traced back 900 years to just one ancestral plant, scientists have discovered.
A literary history of the ‘Soul and Body’ theme in medieval England
This theme is preserved and developed in several medieval English texts, both in prose and verse, dating from the tenth to the fifteenth century.
Miter and Sword: Fighting Norman Bishops and Clergy
This thesis examines Norman bishops and abbots, and their involvement in warfare, either as armed combatants, or commanders of military forces in Normandy, and later in England after William the Conquerors invasion in 1066.
Archaeologists unearth more thousand-year old mysterious jars in Laos
Australian archaeologists have discovered 15 new sites in Laos containing more than one hundred 1000-year-old massive stone jars possibly used for the dead.
New Discovery Sheds Light upon England’s leading Medieval family
A small medieval memorial brass has brought to light the sad story of a young girl whose short life, and tragic death, had previously gone unnoticed by historians and academics.
Astronomical and Atmospheric Observations in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and in Bede
Chronicles and narrative histories of the Early Middle Ages contain a number of entries relating to astronomical events and atmospheric phenomena.
How Philip Augustus outmanoeuvred three English kings
King Philip II of France mastered the art of foreign relations, and used his skills against Henry II, Richard I, and John.
Did Augustine believe in Monsters?
The sermon that makes this outrageous claim is a fake. It is one of hundreds, if not thousands of sermons that circulated in the Middle Ages using Augustine’s illustrious name as a way to guarantee a wide readership and make a bid for literary immortality.
Who Were You 1000 Years Ago?
Answer These 7 Questions To Find Out!
Dumbarton Castle to host Viking-themed festival this weekend
Fans of all things Norse in Scotland will have the chance to take in performances and family-friendly activities this weekend when Dumbarton Castle hosts the Rock of Ages festival.
