What was it like to attend a university in the Middle Ages?
Medieval Hazing: Freshmen Orientation in the Middle Ages
April 16, 2017 by
Anchoresses and beguines simply do not get drunk, break into lecture rooms…and play tennis. Yet this was a recurring problem at the University of Paris.
Book Review: A Medieval Woman’s Companion by Susan Signe Morrison
March 8, 2017 by
Susan Signe Morrison’s book, “A Medieval Woman’s Companion” brings the contributions of medieval women, famous and obscure, to the forefront in this fantastic introductory text.
1390 AD: London in the Late Middle Ages
October 26, 2016 by
Last week, we spoke with Dr. Matthew Green about his new History of London course. This week, we take a peek into the first lecture of the series, a ‘teaser’ on Medieval London in 1390.
Medieval Advice for Students Away From Home
September 10, 2016 by
By Danièle Cybulskie Over the last few weeks, countless parents have kissed their sons and daughters and sent them off to study away from home, loading them up with advice and admonitions to take good care of themselves. Hundreds of years ago, medieval parents were loading up their own children with love and advice, too. […]
Medieval Universities: Privileged, Distinctive and Embedded
February 7, 2016 by
This lecture will introduce medieval universities from their beginnings in England, France and Italy and on to the Renaissance
‘Like the Wick of the Lamp, Like the Silkworm They Are’: Stupid Schoolteachers in Classical Arabic Literary Sources
September 28, 2015 by
That schoolteachers were incorrigibly fatuous was certainly a common perception, widespread in adab literature of the ʿAbbāsid period and in later sources too. Indeed, the question of their stupidity, or rather, the stereotype of ‘the stupid schoolteacher’ was a topos which several classical and post-classical writers were fond of using, along with others such as ‘the dull person’, ‘the smart sponger’ and ‘the ridiculous bedouin’.
Teaching Math in the Middle Ages
September 23, 2015 by
Today I would like to talk about the places mathematics and mathematical pedagogy in particular appear in the Latin writing of the medieval world.
The Long History of Teachers Complaining about Students
September 7, 2015 by
‘Scholarly effort is in decline everywhere as never before.’
The Life of Medieval Students as Illustrated by their Letters
September 6, 2015 by
The intellectual life of the Middle Ages was not characterized by spontaneous or widely diffused power of literary expression.
Dear Dad, Send Money – Letters from Students in the Middle Ages
September 5, 2015 by
I ask of you greetings and money.
Medieval Back-to-School Shopping List
September 3, 2015 by
In the Middle Ages, students entering university had to gather together materials, too, before they headed off to places sometimes very far from home like Oxford University, the University of Salerno, or the University of Paris. Here’s a list of five things that would be on a medieval back-to-school shopping list.
Questions and Answers with Alcuin
August 23, 2015 by
What are teeth? – The millstones of our biting.
Imprisonment, Execution and Escape: Medieval History and the National Curriculum
July 14, 2015 by
The final talk in Sesson #1041, Engaging the Public with the Medieval World, looked at what English children are being taught in school. How much medieval history is in the new programme that was released in September 2014? Megan Gooch, Curator at the Historic Royal Palaces breaks down the English system for us in her paper, ‘Imprisonment, Execution, and Escape: Medieval History and the National Curriculum’.
Making the Castle a Home: Creating an Immersive Medieval World Using Live Costumed Interpreters
July 13, 2015 by
How does the use of unscripted, adaptive, historical interpretation boost the tourist experience? Right on the heels of our look at the Tower of London’s visitor engagement, we heard a paper from Lauren Johnson, Research Manager for Past Pleasures, the oldest historical interpretation company in the UK who educate and entertain the public at historical sites, museums, on stage and and on TV.
Papers on Medieval Prosopography: Session #47 at KZOO 2015
May 29, 2015 by
Three fantastic papers on Prosopography from #KZOO2015.
Medieval Baltimore: Using American Medievalism to Teach about the European Middle Ages
April 16, 2015 by
The article describes the experience of teaching undergraduate college students the history of Medieval Europe through individual research projects using the city of Baltimore (USA), its buildings, monuments, museums, and the professional medievalists working and residing in the area.
To See with the Eyes of the Soul: Memory and Visual Culture in Medieval Europe
February 28, 2015 by
In this article I shall therefore take a closer look at how people thought about the subject of memory and why memory was considered so important in the Middle Ages.
The Importance of Being Good: Moral Philosophy in the Italian Universities, 1300–1600
January 1, 2015 by
This paper therefore explores how important moral philosophy was, during the Italian Renaissance, as an independent university subject, and whether its status had a direct relationship with that of rhetorical studies
Intellectual Cartographic Spaces: Alfonso X, the Wise and the Foundation of the Studium Generale of Seville
November 7, 2014 by
This dissertation, “Intellectual Cartographic Spaces: Alfonso X, the Wise and the Foundations of the Studium Generale of Seville,” I reevaluate Spain’s medieval history, specifically focusing on the role of Alfonso X and his court in the development of institutions of higher education in thirteenth-century Andalusia.
Scholars, Teachers and Students in Early Medieval Europe: Towards a Total Network
September 30, 2014 by
This talk, part of a larger project, is concerned with intellectuals (scholars, teachers and their students) active in the late eighth through ninth centuries, a period usually referred to as the Carolingian Renaissance.
Religious Education as the Basis of Medieval Literature
September 15, 2014 by
The medieval literature was written with a purpose to teach Christian dogmas to the masses. The prose and poetry of the time meant to show men the ugliness of sin and the beauty of goodness.
Narratives of resistance: arguments against the mendicants in the works of Matthew Paris and William of Saint-Amour
September 8, 2014 by
The rise of the new mendicant orders, foremost the Franciscans and Dominicans, is one of the great success stories of thirteenth-century Europe. Combining apostolic poverty with sophisticated organization and university learning, they brought much needed improvements to pastoral care in the growing cities.
The influence of the Bible on Medieval Women’s Literacy
July 14, 2014 by
The image of Saint Anne, who teaches Virgin Mary to read, suggests the feminine culture of the medieval Christian tradition, in which mothers have the mission to educate their girls.
The Meek And Mighty Bride: Representations of Esther, Old Testament Queen of Persia, on Fifteenth-Century Italian Marriage Furniture
February 16, 2014 by
Cassone and spalliere panels depicting the Old Testament Book of Esther were produced by a number of Florentine artists during the fifteenth century.
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