The work reported on in this talk is a collaborative effort involving forces performative, scholarly, and technological. Because of the way Hildegard describes her understanding of the cosmos in the treatise Scivias, the model unfolds in two acts.
Hildegard’s Cosmos and Its Music: Making a Digital Model for the Modern Planetarium
August 1, 2015 By
Maria the Prophetess: Mother of Alchemy
July 26, 2015 By
One of the first female scientists, Maria, the Jewess also referred to as Maria the Prophetissa and Maria, Sister of Moses, whose inventions and designs of equipment are used in laboratories today.
Crash Course: Middle Ages
July 23, 2015 By
Watch the medieval history videos created by Crash Course
What Does Normal Look Like?
July 16, 2015 By
Thomas Hoccleve was a fifteenth-century clerk and poet who suffered a mental breakdown around 1416. In his poem, which we now call Hoccleve’s Compleint, he describes his depression and anxiety about not being able to convince his friends and co-workers that he has recovered.
How I Built an Information Time Machine
July 15, 2015 By
Frederic Kaplan shows off the Venice Time Machine, a project to digitize 80 kilometers of books to create a historical and geographical simulation of Venice across 1000 years
Routier Perrinet Gressart: Joan of Arc’s Penultimate Enemy
July 3, 2015 By
Even my English medievalist colleagues, however reluctantly, must admit that Joan of Arc played a significant role in the Hundred Years War.
How to Speak Middle English
July 2, 2015 By
This four-part series of videos created by Youtuber Thatoneguyinlitclass gives a quick guide to speaking in Middle English.
Medieval Parchment: Sewing Lines and Growing Surfaces
June 27, 2015 By
Talks about growing a medieval parchment by stitching in items to it.
Cuthbert, Guthlac and the Life of St Antony
June 26, 2015 By
Christians far from Egypt have drawn inspiration from the Life of St Antony, including England’s two most popular pre-Conquest hermit saints
Henry III and Magna Carta 1225
June 16, 2015 By
Now at the end of 1215 you would have thought this charter was a failure, without a future. Why is that?
Magna Carta: How relevant to Australia and Human Rights?
June 16, 2015 By
How was it that this Latin inscribed sheepskin parchment became anything more than a minor foot note in English history? Why is Magna Carta today recognized as the foundational document of English constitutional law and the symbol of liberty and freedom throughout the English-speaking world?
Game of Thrones – East and West, Constantinople and Rome, Emperor and Bishop
June 12, 2015 By
The following is a tale of the struggle between the Emperors of Constantinople and the the Bishops of Rome
Caterina Sforza’s Experiments with Alchemy
June 12, 2015 By
She collected over four hundred alchemical, medicinal, and cosmetic recipes, and corresponded with other alchemical adepts about materials and laboratory techniques.
‘Such a great multitude’: Biblical numerology as a literary device in Nauigatio Sancti Brendani
June 5, 2015 By
This presentation will begin by briefly summarizing the text, presenting evidence for its intended audience and purpose, defining Biblical numerology and outlining its role in Jewish and Christian textual traditions up to the early medieval period. Then the presentation will provide a handful of examples in the use of Biblical numerology in Nauigatio.
From Runes to Ruins: Documentary looks at rediscovering the Anglo-Saxon past
June 4, 2015 By
In his latest film, From Runes to Ruins, Tom Rowsell examines how people in England are reclaiming their Anglo-Saxon heritage, including its religion.
Late Medieval Enclosed Gardens of the Low Countries
June 3, 2015 By
In the late Middle Ages and Early Modernity an artistic phenomenon emerged in a feminine religious context, particularly in the Low Countries and the Rhineland: the so-called Enclosed Gardens.
‘By/On the Hand of an Ape’: Monkey-Men and Ape Falconers
June 2, 2015 By
The monkey falconer was a popular motif in illuminated medieval manuscript marginalia and apes and birds share a ‘sympathetic’ connection,
Who wrote Magna Carta?
May 23, 2015 By
This year’s lecture celebrates the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta which falls on 15 June 2015.
Ibn Al-Haytham’s Contributions to Optics and Renaissance Art
May 23, 2015 By
I am going to talk about the science of optics, the history of western art, and the influence of Ibn Al-Haytham.
Crafting the Perfect Army: Innovation and the Assizes of Arms in Plantagenet England
May 20, 2015 By
Daniel Franke, Assistant Professor for medieval and military history at the United States Military Academy, examines military obligation towards English rulers and how the crown raised armies for their campaigns against enemies such as France and Scotland.
Enumerating the Battles, Skirmishes, and Naval Actions at the Siege of Acre
May 20, 2015 By
Hosler examines the many episodes during the siege, which involved Saladin’s Egyptian and Syrian troops, fighting against crusader forces that were eventually joined by kings Philip Augustus and Richard I.
The Multilingual Origins of Medieval Irish Surnames
May 6, 2015 By
Surnames came into widespread use in Ireland at a time where five vernacular languages were in operation – Irish, English, Norse, Welsh and Norman French.
David Nirenberg on ‘Religion and Violence’
May 2, 2015 By
Do the respective claims of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic holy texts contribute to the violence between the various communities that read them? Or do they provide a basis for solidarity between the three Abrahamic religions?
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