Where the Middle Ages Begin
A video interview with Anthony Adams, Assistant Professor of English at Brown University. We talk about Adams the book Professor Adams is currently finishing – Discors machina: Violence, Trauma, and Narrative in Medieval Literature – which is an examination of the ways that medieval narratives are animated, structured, and disrupted by scenes of sacrifice. We […]
Anthea Boylston of the University of Bradford discusses the Towton Mass Grave Project – in 1996 a mass burial pit was discovered at the site of the Battle of Towton, a major battle fought in 1461 during England’s War of the Roses.
Born in Berlin, Margarethe von Trotta is one of the leaders of the New German Cinema movement, as well as one of the world’s most important feminist filmmakers. In 1977, she wrote and directed her first solo feature, The Second Awakening of Christa Klages, which introduced many of the themes that she would return to […]
Barbara Sukowa plays the lead role in Vision – From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen. She has starred in several movies, including Marianne and Juliane (1981), Johny Mnemonic (1995) and the Cradle will Rock (1998). Hildegard von Bingen was a great visionary for her time; does she still have something to teach us? There […]
Interview Iain McNeil, Development Director of Slitherine, about the video game History: Great Battles Medieval What was the motivation for Slitherine to make Great Battles Medieval? We specialise in games that are based around History. It’s what we know, what we do best. We’ve covered games that go through the ancient period, World War II, […]
The first annual Great Northern Medieval Fayre was held earlier this year near Toronto, Canada. The event was held over a four-day period and drew thousands of visitors. Now that all the work is done, Linda Laforge, one of the co-organizers of the fayre, talks to Medievalists.net about the challenges and rewards of running a […]
Rafe de Crespigny is Professor Emeritus at the Australian National University. He is considered to be one of the most important historians on early medieval China, focusing on the late second and third centuries, when the Han Dynasty collapsed and was replaced by the Three Kingdoms. Professor de Crespigny has written numerous books and articles […]
Last week, we reviewed a book entitled “Eadric the Grasper: Sons of Mercia Vol. I”. I had the pleasure of interviewing author Jayden Woods about her upcoming book, background, and future novels. Jayden graduated from the University of Southern California’s Writing for Screen and Television program and lived Los Angeles for five years before deciding […]
We interview John D. Hosler, associate professor of history at Morgan State University. Professor Hosler talks about going from a graduate student to becoming a tenured professor, and the work a historian needs to do to reach that level. We also talk about his book ‘Henry II: a Medieval Soldier at War, 1147-1189′ and his […]
The Irish Annals: Their genesis, evolution and history, by Dan McCarthy, examines the works created in early medieval Ireland, and which continued to be a major source of Irish history into the early modern period. McCarthy’s book, which was first published by Four Courts Press in 2008, re-examines the manuscript evidence, commencing with an account […]
HerStoria magazine started up in 2009 and soon got impressive reviews, including being named to the top ten list of new magazines from Library Journal. “History that puts woman in her place” is the tagline for HerStoria, which provides a feminine slant on history and offers a wide variety of articles and features dealing with […]
We interviewed Bernard S. Bachrach (University of Minnesota) and David Bachrach (University of New Hampshire) who are father and son, and both professors of medieval history. We spoke with them at the 2010 International Congress on Medieval Studies, where we talked about how they became interested in medieval history, and some of the challenges they […]
We interviewed Robert of Swords4You.com, who sells medieval swords and other medieval replica products, and ask him for some tips about what kind of medieval swords one can buy, and what someone should look for when buying one of these weapons.
Richard Britnell, professor emeritus at Durham University, is a renowned medieval historian in the area of economic and social history for medieval England and the British Isles. We speak to him about his research, including his latest book – Land and Family. Trends and Local Variations in the Peasant Land Market on the Winchester Bishopric Estates, 1263-1415.
Black Death, a supernatural thriller set in England in the year 1348, will be coming to movie theaters next month. Starring Sean Bean, the movie centers around the efforts of a monk and a group of knights to learn the secret why a remote village is not being effected by the plague which is ravaging […]
We speak with Jack Whyte, author of a dozen historical fiction novels, including The Camulod Chronicles (A Dream of Eagles) series and The Templar Trilogy series. We discuss how he became an author, his writing style, and his upcoming book, The Forest Laird, which will begin a new trilogy set in Scotland during the days […]
Medievalists.net interviews Guy Gavriel Kay, the highly successful historical fiction and fantasy author, about his latest novel Under Heaven and his career as a writer. Click here for more details about Under Heaven Click here to go to our profile of Guy Gavriel Kay
One of most interesting medieval books to come out in 2006 was Becoming Charlemagne by Jeff Sypeck. His account of how a Germanic king named Karl gets crowned an emperor by the Pope in the year 800 earned great reviews and impressive sales. Sypeck, who teaches medieval literature at University of Maryland University College, has […]
In Consuming History, Jerome de Groot examines how society consumes history and how a reading of this consumption can help us understand popular culture and issues of representation. This book analyzes a wide range of cultural entities – from computer games to daytime television, from blockbuster films such as Da Vinci Code to DNA genealogical […]
The Albigensian Crusade of the early-thirteenth century was a key moment in Europe’s medieval history. The crusade was launched by Pope Innocent III in 1209 against the Cathars, a heretical sect of Christians living in southern France. It led to a series of military efforts to root out the Cathars and their supporters. Many books have been […]
Frederick S. Paxton, a Professor of History at Connecticut College. The main focus of his research has been about how medieval people approached sickness, healing and mortality. In this latest book, Anchoress and Abbess in Ninth-century Saxony: The Lives of Liutbirga of Wendhausen and Hathumoda of Gandersheim, Paxton provides an edition and translation of hagiographic […]
Monemvasia: A Byzantine City State, the only book currently available on the best-preserved Byzantine city in the Peloponnese – Monemvasia. Haris A. Kalligas, a world authority on Monemvasia’s history and architecture, here explores the city’s foundation, its status as a powerful maritime centre of Byzantium, and its gradual decline after the fall of the Empire. We […]
One of the most fascinating aspects of Norse society was their ability to explore and branch out from their base in Scandinavia. Norse sailors and colonists spread out across parts of Europe between the eight and eleventh centuries, going as far as Iceland, Greenland and North America. In his recent book, Vikings in America, Dr. […]
Lars Brownworth became a podcasting sensation when he posted a series of short lectures called 12 Byzantine Rulers. Now, the historian has come out with his book Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization. This overview of Byzantine history runs all the way from the founding of Constantinople in the 4th […]
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