From Modified Skulls to Schools of Knights: 10 Medieval Studies’ Articles Published Last Month
What’s new in medieval studies? Here are ten articles published in February, which tell us about topics including Viking filed teeth, Japanese ghosts and Gothic church towers.
Medieval Ireland: Ten Articles
Are you interested in Ireland in the Middle Ages? Here are ten recent articles that examine Ireland’s medieval history, all of which can be read for free.
From a Giant to a Wrecked Ship: 10 Medieval Studies’ Articles Published Last Month
What is new in medieval studies? Here are ten articles published in January, which tell us about topics including Bestiaries, Bridget and Baḥrīyah.
From Robin Hood to Mongols: 10 Medieval Studies’ Articles Published Last Month
Here are ten articles published in December, which tell us about topics including the First Crusade and animating small objects.
From Slavery to Students: 10 Medieval Studies’ Articles Published Last Month
What is new in medieval studies? Here are ten articles published in November, which tell us about topics including Henry of Lancaster’s Revolt,…
From Crusades to Insurance Contracts: 10 Medieval Studies’ Articles Published Last Month
What is new in medieval studies? Here are ten articles published in October, which tell us about topics including art history, economics, saints and restoring a heritage site damaged by an earthquake.
From Bread to Mechanical Women: 10 Medieval Studies’ Articles Published Last Month
What is new in medieval studies? Here are ten articles published in September, which tell us about topics including riddles, droughts, gunshot wounds and more.
Rome and Byzantium in Heavy Metal music, with Jeremy Swist
A conversation with Jeremy Swist on why some heavy metal bands write music about Roman and Byzantine history. Expect “good” and “bad” emperors to be reversed here!
Ibn Khaldun, medieval medicine and Islam – four articles
Here are four recent articles focusing on Ibn Khaldun, the fourteenth-century century social scientist and historian. Written by Mohammadreza Shahidipak, they focus on his views on medicine and the role of Islam in this science.
The grain supply of the Byzantine empire revisited: history, archaeology, palynology
We’re going to talk about in this paper the way the production of cereal, such as wheat, barley, millet and so forth, developed and was managed across the Byzantine period.
The construction and destruction of a saint: Thomas Becket
Diarmaid MacCulloch and Nicholas Vincent explore the meteoric rise to canonisation of Thomas Becket, his subsequent veneration and the destruction of his reputation during the Reformation, in the Tudor period
The Political Opposition to Alexios I Komnenos (1081–1118)
Byzantium in the 11th century was marked by the struggle between the bureaucracy and the military landed aristocracy. The seizure of power by Alexios I was, therefore, the final victory of the latter.
Hunting in the Middle Ages: Articles and Theses
Here is a list of articles, dissertations and theses about the hunting during the Middle Ages that you can access online for free:
Christine de Pizan: Articles and Theses
Here is a list of articles, dissertations and theses about the medieval writer Christine de Pizan that you can access online for free:
The contours of disease and hunger in Carolingian and early Ottonian Europe (c.750-c.950 CE)
This thesis is the first systematic examination of the textual and material evidence for disease and hunger in Carolingian and early Ottonian Europe, c.750 to c.950 CE
Intercultural relations of the inhabitants of Polish territory in the 9th and 10th centuries
This chapter discusses the influence that neighbours had on the population of Poland in the period in question, and vice-versa. The aim is to demonstrate the diverse cultural models that were reaching Polish lands in the 9th and 10th centuries.
How to Rebel via Jokes and Laughter: Two Examples of Rebellious Emotions in the Early Middle Ages
Two very different examples of public emotions have been presented. On the one hand Sichar failed to fulfill his ritual obligation by using a too rude joke. His attempt to rebel against his conqueror backfired and led – without any laughter at his bad joke – to his own death.
The 1381 Rising in Bury St Edmunds: The Role of Leaders and the Community in Shaping the Rebellion
This article explores the relative role of leaders and communities within Bury St
Edmunds, a town in western Suffolk under the lordship of the Abbey of St Edmunds.
The Challenge of State Building in the Twelfth Century: the Crusader States in Palestine and Syria
The crusader states in the twelfth century do not conform to the stereotypical constructs of historians and economists; instead they present a series of paradoxes.
The mystery of plague in medieval Iceland
Icelandic annals record two severe plague epidemics for 1402-4 and 1494-95.
Why was Leifr Eiríksson called ‘Lucky’?
Although it might be said that the discovery of a whole continent was a sufficient justification for such an appellation, the sources do not indicate that Leifr earned his cognomen through discoveries or exploration.
John Hawkwood: Florentine Hero And Faithful Englishman
The Englishman John Hawkwood was fourteenth-century Italy’s most famous and successful mercenary soldier.
‘The big problem of the petty coins’, and how it could be solved in the late Middle Ages
To the modern eye, late medieval monetary systems exhibit a number of baffling complexities
Visual material evidence of Viking presence in the Balkans
The purpose of this article is to outline the Viking objects discovered in the Balkans.
How England got its name (1014-1030)
As strange as it may seem, the story of how England was named has never been told.