This paper draws attention to the lack of information as to how early North Sea sailors navigated, particularly during the one thousand year period that followed Roman times.
‘Pirates, robbers and other malefactors’: The role played by violence at sea in relations between England and the Hanse towns, 1385 – 1420
November 17, 2015 By
This thesis will argue that the impact of specific phenomena, particularly the activities of the Vitalienbrüder, on Anglo-Hanseatic relations has been not only neglected but misunderstood, and that attention to English sources can help flesh out our understanding of the Vitalienbrüder’s history.
What do Cod Bones from the Mary Rose tell us about the global fish trade?
September 9, 2015 By
New stable isotope and ancient DNA analysis of the bones of stored cod provisions recovered from the wreck of the Tudor warship Mary Rose, which sank off the coast of southern England in 1545, has revealed that the fish in the ship’s stores had been caught in surprisingly distant waters
The Newport Medieval Ship in Context: The Life and Times of a 15th Century Merchant Vessel Trading in Western Europe
August 26, 2015 By
This paper presents a summary of recent research into the broader economic, cultural and political world in which the Newport Medieval Ship was built and operated.
How did medieval seafarers turn trees into boat parts?
August 10, 2015 By
In this video, Professor Jon Adams of the University of Southampton explains the techniques by which shipwrights have converted the trees of the forest into the components of the boats in which people eventually sailed around the world.
BOOK REVIEW: Genoa ‘La Superba’: The Rise and Fall of a Merchant Pirate Superpower by Nicholas Walton
August 9, 2015 By
While most books about Italy have been dedicated to tourist hubs like Milan, Florence, Rome, Sicily and Venice, Genoa with its rich history, rugged landscape, and tenacious residents, has been given only a passing mention.
Early Norse Navigation Tools
August 2, 2015 By
These two pieces of navigation equipment were at the time as cutting edge as the iphone, the ipad, and the GPS is today. They allowed the sailors to navigate large stretches of open water without sight of land and successfully reach their destination as safely as possible.
Fish commoditization and the historical origins of catching fish for profit
July 29, 2015 By
Herring trade expanded in the late 1300s with the introduction in Holland of an improved curing process that allowed the salting of fresh herring in barrels at sea.
Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps
February 24, 2015 By
Chet Van Duzer, author of the recent book Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps, will trace the history of sea monsters on European maps, beginning with the earliest mappaemundi on which they appear in the tenth century and continuing to the end of the sixteenth century.
War on the Waterways: Maritime Conflict in the Viking Age in the North Sea Region
January 30, 2015 By
The ubiquitous Viking warship is perhaps the most high-profile symbol of early medieval Scandinavians.
A peasant is a peasant, is a peasant? : Medieval Maritime Peasant Lives
January 26, 2015 By
A peasant is a peasant, is a peasant…or is s/he? Was the life of a peasant who lived in the coastal regions of England the same as that of the peasant who made his livelihood toiling on the land for his local lord?
The Kraken: when myth encounters science
January 7, 2015 By
Hundreds of years ago, sailors were terrified by the Kraken, a dreadful sea monster capable of sinking ships and with a taste for human flesh.
Vital Factors in the Success of the Vikings
January 5, 2015 By
Viking raids in Western Europe met with an easy success which is rather astonishing.
Piracy and Papacy: The Legacy of Thibauld’s treasure
December 7, 2014 By
Pirates and popes seem to be two things that simply would not intersect owing to both time and distance, but in 1357 intersect they did. The result was a court claim that resulted claims for damages that wound up providing us one of the finest medieval cities to survive today.
Maritime Southeast Asia: The View from Tang-Song China
October 16, 2014 By
The following are annotated, critical translations of monographs from the Older and Newer Tang Histories concerning the foreign peoples and kingdoms of Maritime Southeast Asia.
Holy Islands and the Otherworld: Places Beyond Water
September 1, 2014 By
In this article I attempt to demonstrate that there is a connection between holy islands and notions of an Otherworld beyond water. I believe that the essence of holy islands is their location on the other side of water.
A Peripheral Matter?: Oceans in the East in Late-Medieval Thought, Report and Cartography
August 24, 2014 By
It is something of a truism that the Ocean Sea {mare oceanum in medieval texts and cartography) marked out a real and conceptual periphery for medieval Western Europeans.
Greenland Norse Knowledge of the North Atlantic
August 10, 2014 By
What did the Norse know about climate, and what was the role of driftwood in their lives?
Venetian Trading Networks in the Medieval Mediterranean
August 6, 2014 By
To understand the system of business relations within the commercial network of the Republic of Venice, this article adopts a network analysis that differs from a standard narrative based on a privileged subset of actors or relations. It allows us to examine the socially mixed group of entrepreneurs, brokers, and shippers at the heart of Venice’s economic system.
1295: The Year of the Galleys
July 28, 2014 By
This lecture is about an extraordinary set of English shipbuilding accounts dating from the 1290s, when the ports of London, Southampton, Ipswich, York, Newcastle and other places constructed eight war galleys for King Edward I.
The Problem of Mayda, an Island Appearing on Medieval Maps
July 27, 2014 By
Of all the legendary islands and island names on the medieval maps, Mayda has been the most enduring.
Women and Ships in the Viking World
July 13, 2014 By
Perhaps the most splendid, and certainly one of the best-known, burials of the Viking Age is that of the two women who were put to rest in the Oseberg ship.
Climatic Change and the North Atlantic Seaways During the Norse Expansion
June 24, 2014 By
In order to appreciate how the Norse expansion might have been influenced by climatic fluctuations it is necessary to consider in outline the mechanisms which control weather and climate in the North Atlantic area at the present day, and which also obtained in the past.
Where medieval London got its fish from
May 27, 2014 By
During the 13th century the supply of fish to London dramatically changed from a local supply to one important from outside England.
Christopher Columbus’ flagship may have been found
May 13, 2014 By
An underwater archaeological search may have discovered the Santa Maria, the flagship of Christopher Columbus when he sailed across the Atlantic reaching the New World in 1492.
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