Where the Middle Ages Begin
How did medieval Mongolian women wear their hair and dress at court? This feature explores braids, shaving customs, and the iconic boqta headdress across Yuan and Ilkhanid art, travellers’ accounts, and archaeological finds.
What everyday objects did people use in the Middle Ages? From clothing and household necessities to tools for work and warfare, these 25 medieval items were essential to daily life and shaped how people lived, ate, and survived.
Delve into the pivotal figures of the Middle Ages whose enduring legacies shaped the course of history. From visionary leaders and profound scholars to prolific writers and formidable warriors, these individuals left an indelible mark on medieval society.
Discover the 50 most significant events of the Middle Ages, spanning the years 500 to 1500.
Here are seven vivid facts about colour in the Middle Ages
In medieval times, many unique jobs, such as Ale-wife and Groom of the Stool, were essential but have since vanished. Discover these obsolete occupations and how historical changes led to their disappearance.
Are you wanting to talk more like someone from the Middle Ages? We have a list of 30 great sayings and proverbs that you can use in your conversations.
Have you wondered what a medieval king did on a typical day? Thanks to Christine de Pizan, we have an account of what daily life was like for King Charles V of France.
Some of our most popular phrases have a long history, including some that go back to the Middle Ages.
Want to know what kind of jobs there were in the Middle Ages? A unique source from the 15th century gives us some beautiful images of medieval people at work.
Archaeologists in northeastern Switzerland’s canton of Thurgau have confirmed a newly identified 10th–11th-century castle site near Uesslingen-Buch, with LiDAR mapping and finds including medieval arrowheads shedding new light on the long-lost Ittingen stronghold and its road network.
A conversation with Aaron Butts on the conversion to Christianity of Ezana, the fourth-century king of Aksum (in modern Ethiopia and Eritrea). “Conversion” is a conventional term, but what Ezana’s inscriptions and coins reveals is a complicated process of appealing to different groups and the coexistence of religions in his realm and the royal monuments.
This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Alexander L. Kaufman about how Robin Hood’s legend evolved over time, his transformation into a pantomime favourite, and that time Robin robbed Santa Claus himself.
New research suggests the Bayeux Tapestry may have been designed for display in a monastic refectory at St Augustine’s Abbey in Canterbury, where monks could view and reflect on its narrative during communal meals.
In this episode of Bow & Blade, Michael and Kelly examine the Battle of Stirling Bridge in Scotland as a clear example of poor generalship. Focusing on the English command’s mistakes, they explore how underestimating William Wallace and the Scottish forces led to disastrous decisions over terrain and timing.
The Getty Museum has announced Beginnings: The Story of Creation in the Middle Ages, a forthcoming exhibition examining how medieval manuscripts and modern artworks interpret the Biblical story of Creation, opening in early 2026.
How a medieval forgery known as the Donation of Constantine shaped Church power, papal authority, and medieval ideas of truth and legitimacy.
A long-running debate over the location of one of the most important battles fought in medieval England may finally be nearing an answer. A new study argues that the Battle of Brunanburh, fought in 937, took place at Bromborough on the Wirral, bringing fresh clarity to a question that has occupied historians for more than a century.
Archaeological investigations in the English city of York have uncovered evidence of early medieval occupation alongside substantial Roman remains, shedding new light on the city’s long and complex past. The discoveries were made on the site of a new hotel development.
A medieval medical guide reduced healthy living to six simple rules. Explore The Theatre of Health and how its advice on diet, activity, and balance still resonates today.
A conversation with Ellen Muehlberger about how some people in late antiquity tried to model, confirm, or interpret what they thought was going on in the minds of others. We briefly talk about the genre of the lecture book, and then about classroom exercises in impersonation (were they exercises in empathy or not?) and breaking into houses to see what people had in their private quarters.
The Middle Ages we know today is shaped by historians as much as by history itself. Discover 25 historiographical constructs that define how the medieval world is studied and understood.
Explore 12 medieval proverbs about wolves, drawn from Latin sources and translated into English, revealing how medieval writers used the wolf to express moral and social lessons.
A dramatic ambush derailed a potential alliance between the Crusaders and the Assassins, plunging the Kingdom of Jerusalem into crisis. This article explores the negotiations, the killing of the Nizari envoy and the political fallout that followed.
This book guides historians in working with Pipe Rolls, the English government’s financial records that date back to the twelfth century. These documents reveal a great deal about how England’s administration functioned during the Middle Ages.
The Higgins Collection—one of America’s most distinctive assemblies of arms and armor—has finally reopened to the public at the Worcester Art Museum. Its new galleries offer flashes of the old museum’s spirit, along with choices that may surprise longtime admirers.
New research reveals how Augustinian friars shaped medieval rural life through overlooked miracles—from healing livestock to restoring barren land—challenging long-held assumptions about the order’s history.
This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Heather Blurton about how Richard’s contemporaries saw him, the wild stories told about him in the later Middle Ages, and why we still just can’t get enough of this controversial king.
Medieval soldiers in Edward I’s armies often turned warfare into a source of income, creating a new class of mounted military entrepreneurs.
Excavations in eastern England have revealed an early medieval village near Friston, medieval kiln sites on the coast, and rare prehistoric artefacts, offering new insight into East Anglia’s long-settled landscape.
A new study reveals that medieval communities around Lake Constance created a biodiversity peak through innovative farming, trade, and land management, offering insights for modern conservation.
A royal manuscript of the Roman de la Rose offers a fresh look at Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun’s contrasting visions of medieval love and reason.
Archaeologists in Aarhus, Denmark, have uncovered more than 50 skeletons in a medieval cemetery linked to St. Oluf’s Church, offering rare insight into the city’s transition from the Viking Age to Christian Europe.
What’s new in medieval studies? Here are ten open-access articles published in November, which include papers ranging from bee amulets to the Stone of Scone.
The writings of Julian of Norwich, the fourteenth-century English mystic, have long fascinated medievalists. This book zeroes in on Julian’s illness during her visions, asking what that experience was like in human terms — as the author puts it, “What did she really experience, what did she feel, there in her sickbed in 1373?”
In the latest Q&A episode of Bow & Blade, Michael and Kelly tackle listener questions on Joan of Arc, standout new books on medieval warfare, and whether Richard III really killed the Princes in the Tower.
A conversation with Kim Bowes about her recent book, Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent, which presents a brilliant new model of the Roman imperial economy, specifically for how the majority of the population experienced it.
In this episode of Bow & Blade, Michael and Kelly head to the Pyrenean stronghold of Montségur to unpack the dramatic siege that brought the Cathar refuge to its end. They explore how faith, politics, and military pressure collided on the mountain—and what the fall of Montségur meant for the wider Albigensian Crusade.
This week on The Medieval Podcast, in keeping with tradition, Danièle speaks with Peter Konieczny, editor of Medievalists.net, about the good, the bad, and the ugly of 2025.
A conversation with Aaron Butts on the conversion to Christianity of Ezana, the fourth-century king of Aksum (in modern Ethiopia and Eritrea). “Conversion” is a conventional term, but what Ezana’s inscriptions and coins reveals is a complicated process of appealing to different groups and the coexistence of religions in his realm and the royal monuments.
This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Alexander L. Kaufman about how Robin Hood’s legend evolved over time, his transformation into a pantomime favourite, and that time Robin robbed Santa Claus himself.
