Making Manuscripts
A short video on how medieval illuminated manuscripts were made.
The Medieval Calendar
Calendars used during the Middle Ages were very different from the simple calendars we use today. In the middle ages people experienced time very differently. For those who could decipher it the medieval calendar was a map of the church year.
How to make a medieval pen
How people wrote in the fifteenth century isn’t really a lot different to how people write today. You need to basic tools of the trade – piece of paper to write on, something to write with, and some ink.
The Saga of a Viking Age Longhouse in Iceland
A documentary about the excavation of a Viking Age longhouse in Iceland. Can historical texts and sagas help archaeology. Created by Jesse Byock and Adam Fish.
The Story of Byzantine
This short documentary tells the story of Byzantine.
Modern finance in the Middle Ages
In this short video, Professor Adrian Bell of the University of Reading discusses the parallels between financial crises today and those 800 years ago – including credit crunch, sovereign default, foreign exchange and rate rigging.
Lotions and Potions: Medical Books from the Middle Ages
Medicine existed long before it was a science taught at medieval universities. This lecture takes the audience to the eleventh and twelfth centuries, when the first medical handbooks were translated from Arabic into Latin, the learned language of the West.
The Search for King Richard III News Conference
Speakers include Richard Buckley, Lead Archaeologist, Jo Appleby, Project Osteologist, Lin Foxhall, Kevin Schurer, Project Geneaologist, and Turi King, Project Geneticist, and Richard Taylor of the University of Leicester.
Great Battles: The First Crusade
It really seemed like the final bitter and wretched end to an endlessly long and brutal march and an endless horrific siege.
The Cross of the Scriptures: Power Meets Religion in Medieval Ireland
A lecture examining the medieval cross and the monastery of Clonmacnoise in Ireland
What is A Chronicle? On the Joy of Reading History
Recent scholarship has hotly debated the definitions of chronicles as a genre, and focussed on the task tracing them back to their authentic, pristine text. However, another way of approaching this is to think of the chronicle as a physical object, a history book, with each new transcription being a new crystalization of the work.
How to have a Renaissance Hairstyle
A video showing how to recreate a Renaissance hairstyle from early sixteenth-century Flanders.
Silence through schism and two Reformations: 451-1500
The significance of the threeway split in Christianity after the Council of Chalcedon (451). The purposeful Chalcedonian forgetting of Evagrius Ponticus and the contribution of an anonymous theologian who took the name Dionysius the Areopagite.
Islamic Monuments and National Patrimony in Modern Spain
In Spain, the Islamic past usefully differentiates Iberia from the rest of Europe, and its monuments—particularly the Great Mosque of Cordoba and the Alhambra—are a source of pride. However, the Islamic past is treated as ‘distant.’
Secret histories of illuminated manuscripts: the MINIARE project
Secret histories of illuminated manuscripts: the MINIARE project From the University of Cambridge An innovative project at the University of Cambridge will uncover…
Jan Hus: The 15th Century Czech Reformer
Neil Fowler performs as Jan Hus (c.1369 – 1415) and depicts his life and teachings.
Conservation at Ani Cathedral and the Church of the Holy Savior
Ani, a dramatic, windswept archaeological site in eastern Turkey, was once a thriving medieval city on the trade route through Central Asia.
The Conquest of Wales (1282)
That was when an English king, Edward the First, sent an army along this route I’m travelling now. He conquered Wales, he built castles as symbols of his power, and he shipped in English settlers to exploit this land. And the Welsh became second-class citizens in their own country.
The Great Age of Books: The 14th and 15th Centuries
In this video, Hobbins discusses his research on the tremendous changes in book production in the late Middle Ages, before the advent of print.
Creating and Recreating Jean d’Arras’ Mélusine from the Hundred Years’ War to Isabelline Spain
Melusine enjoyed great success in France, even inspiring imitations commissioned by lesser nobility, and spread throughout Europe, eventually reaching Spain fifteen years into the reign of Isabella I of Castile.
Life, Death, Fate and Female Embodiment: Weaving in Viking Age and Medieval Iceland
Video of a lecture on medieval Icelandic textiles.
The Battle of Maldon: The Lego Version
Director and narrated by David Waugh of DTG Productions, it retells The Battle of Maldon, an Anglo-Saxon poem that describes a battle that took place on 10 August 991
The History of English in Ten Minutes
Learn where words like house, loaf, bishop, font, drag, die, jury, justice, swine, mutton, pork, eyeball and alligator came from!
The Children of Ash: Cosmology and the Viking Universe
What I am really going to be talking about throughout these lectures is stories, the power of stories, and the role that narrative played in the life of the Vikings, its influence on their perception of the world in which they understood themselves to move.
The Hobbit; an unexpected theological journey
Dr Alison Milbank of the University of Nottingham’s Department of Theology and Religious Studies, offers her insights into J.R.R.Tolkien and his famous novel.