Medieval Democracy in Action: From the Fables of Odo of Cheriton
If you’re choosing your next ruler, you might take a page from Odo of Cheriton’s book. This 13th-century English preacher and storyteller offered tales of birds, frogs, trees, and ants who tried their hand at electing kings—and their choice backfired.
New Medieval Books: Lumen: The Art and Science of Light
This book, featuring a dozen essays and over a hundred images, illuminates the significance of light in the Middle Ages. From scientific studies on optics to the ways sunlight filled churches, medieval society harnessed light in stunning and inventive ways.
New Medieval Books: Zoomorphic Incense Burners of Medieval Khurasan
In the medieval world, incense burners were a popular item, often crafted with great skill. This book explores how artisans in Central Asia shaped these metal burners into forms like lions, horses, and other animals, creating a unique and thriving industry.
How Pigs Shaped Medieval Life: Surprising Roles in Politics, Warfare, and Law
From scavengers cleaning city streets to symbols of royal power, pigs left an indelible mark on medieval history—often in the most unusual ways.
Latin Words in Ancient and Byzantine Greek, with Eleanor Dickey
Byzantium & Friends, Episode 122: A conversation with Eleanor Dickey on Latin words in ancient and Byzantine Greek. Eleanor has tracked them down and compiled them in a specialized dictionary, where she also offers new arguments about when, how, and why they were borrowed by Greek-speakers. It reaches down to 600 AD, but many of them survived later too, even into modern spoken Greek.
Bad Chaucer with Tison Pugh – The Medieval Podcast, Episode 264
When it comes to classics of literature, it can feel like there’s a lot of pressure to nod along with the crowd and say that some authors are just brilliant, full stop. But sometimes even great literature isn’t so great. This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Tison Pugh about the good, the bad, and the downright ugly in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales.
Halloween Sale on our Monsters!! Online Course
Save 25% off our next online course: Monsters!! This 6-week class begins November 14th.
New Medieval Books: On the Deeds of Gerald
This biography about the famous 13th-century writer Gerald of Wales was actually written by Gerald himself. Writing in the third-person, Gerald narrates his career in the Church, his efforts to become a bishop, and his time in the courts of the Kings of England.
New Medieval Books: The Book of the Deeds of the Good Knight Jacques de Lalaing
A translation of a 15th-century account of a young knight from Burgundy. Jacques de Lalaing was only 32 years old when he died, but he had already become quite famous for his success in tournaments as well as his military career.
Liber Monstrorum: A Medieval Book of Monsters
If there’s anything we have in common with our medieval ancestors, it’s our love of monsters.
Medieval Women in Their Own Words: Uncovering Untold Stories at the British Library
The British Library’s Medieval Women: In Their Own Words exhibition offers a rare glimpse into the lives of medieval women through over 140 fascinating artifacts. One of the exhibition’s curators shares five standout pieces that reveal the resilience, creativity, and influence of women in the Middle Ages.
Grisly Power Plays: Did Medieval Rulers Drink from Enemy Skulls?
Did medieval kings really drink from the skulls of their enemies, or is this just one of history’s grisly exaggerations?
New Medieval Books: The Stone Witch of Florence
Set in Florence at the height of the Black Death, this novel tells the story of a woman who returns from banishment to help save the city and uncover a conspiracy. It’s a blend of historical fiction and fantasy, with a bit of magic.
New Medieval Books: Touching Parchment
These two volumes, both open-access, reveals how medieval people physically interacted with books. This went way beyond just reading them – these manuscripts would be kissed, sworn upon, displayed publicly and more. It’s a fascinating look at how books were more than the words written on them in the Middle Ages.
New Medieval Books: The Annals of King T’aejo
In 1392, General Yi Songgye seized power in Korea, founding the Choson Dynasty. His government initiated a detailed set of annals, providing a daily record of his six-year reign and a wealth of valuable information.
New Medieval Books: Monasticism in Ireland
This book explores the functioning of monasteries in Ireland during the High Middle Ages and their integral role in the country’s religious life. It addresses the key question: ‘How monastic was the monastic church, and what was its relationship to the church of the laity?’
Medieval Riga with Kevin O’Connor – The Medieval Podcast, Episode 263
This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Kevin O’Connor about medieval Riga, its tumultuous place as a trading post between West and East – as well as war between bishops and crusaders – and how its medieval history plays out in today’s politics.
Book Review: Sweet Hunter: The Complete Poems of St. Teresa of Ávila
The engaging freshness of the translations collapses much of the distance between this fervent mystic of Ávila and the contemporary reader, making Sweet Hunter a fascinating and moving volume.
Adventures of a Tenth-Century Explorer: Mapping the Medieval World
What was it like to travel the world over a thousand years ago? For one man, it was a journey filled with adventure, hardship, and discovery.
New Medieval Books: The World the Plague Made
At over 600 pages, this comprehensive study of the Black Death provides a global perspective on the pandemic and its aftermath. It explores how this medieval plague reshaped societies worldwide, creating both winners and losers in its wake.
Afghanistan: A Forgotten Medieval Kingdom
Uncover the history of Afghanistan’s forgotten medieval kingdom, written about in a 14th-century chronicle but lost to time. Learn how this kingdom, ruled by a Kurdish dynasty, resisted Mongol dominance before fading from the historical record.
New Medieval Books: The Rules of Logic
The most widely read introduction to logic in the Arabic-speaking world, this work dates to the 13th century. If you enjoy reading about propositions and syllogism, then this book is for you.
New Medieval Books: Raiders, Rulers, and Traders
A sweeping history from prehistoric times to the 20th century, this book examines how the horse helped shaped civilization along the Eurasian Steppe. Several chapters focus on medieval empires, including the Turks, Mongols and Timurids.
New Medieval Books: Ben Cao Gang Mu
This extensive collection, translated into English across nine large volumes, serves as a comprehensive encyclopedia of medical and pharmaceutical knowledge. Within its thousands of entries, readers can discover how plants and animals were utilized for medicinal purposes in pre-modern China.