Discover 10 curious facts you might not know about Great Britain’s most famous cathedrals.
The Idea of the Castle in Medieval England
March 1, 2018 by
The castle has long been regarded as a practical, military architecture, introduced by the Normans as a tool of feudal control. More recently, castles have been accorded a certain symbolic significance, expressing military and political power.
Who was Edward I?
February 11, 2018 by
The Five-Minute Medievalist talks about the life and times of Edward I, King of England.
English Queenship 1445-1503
January 10, 2018 by
The Wars of the Roses marked a period of political instability which brought into question existing ideologies of kingship and, within that, of queenship, reshaping the latter office and its rituals.
Constructing Communities: Identification and Self-Understanding in the Twelfth-Century North of England
January 10, 2018 by
This is a study of local communities in the north of England between 1069 and 1200. It examines the way these communities were constructed, imagined and perceived by contemporary individuals.
The social, political and religious contexts of the late Medieval carol
December 18, 2017 by
This thesis examines the late medieval English carol, an important indigenous musical form that is abundant in a number of sources from the late fourteenth to the early sixteenth century, both with and without extant musical notation.
The Courts Christian in Medieval England
December 6, 2017 by
This article examines the structure and jurisdiction of the pre-Reformation ecclesiastical courts in England to determine their effect on the Reformation.
Messengers in Later Medieval England
November 29, 2017 by
Varied documents other than Exchequer records expose a terminological confusion in the generic term of ‘messengers’; as a result, the nature of medieval messengership is not easy to approach.
Mapping Women’s Movement in Medieval England
November 29, 2017 by
Women, as a less-dominant group in all periods and most cultures in history, have experienced many forms of spatial limitation.
The Execution and Burial of Criminals in Early Medieval England, c. 850-1150
November 21, 2017 by
This thesis seeks to discover where criminals where buried after the Norman Conquest and examines the influences behind the changes in funerary treatment of judicial offenders.
The Walking Dead in Medieval England: Literary and Archaeological Perspectives
November 16, 2017 by
The aim of this study is to analyse the popular perception of the walking dead – ‘revenants’ – in medieval England, using both written and archaeological sources.
The English Lyric, Medieval to Early Modern
October 24, 2017 by
This talk explores the relationship among the medieval and early modern traditions of the lyric in English to argue for the latter’s creative readings of the former.
Assets to the Country: Countesses in Fourteenth Century England
October 23, 2017 by
Surviving sources can tell us much about medieval noblewomen, even if many earlier historians ignored them. We learn that these women were strong and intelligent, and can answer questions about their childhoods, their abilities to choose marriage partners, their daily and annual schedules, and their experiences during widowhood.
Agatha, Clerical ‘Wife’ and Wet Nurse to King John of England, Longtime Companion to Godfrey de Lucy, Bishop of Winchester
October 16, 2017 by
Agatha is the earliest royal wet nurse for whom at least a faint sketch of her life can be drawn, and she presents a rare view of a non-noble, non-royal, non-religious English woman of the late twelfth- and early thirteenth centuries.
‘Becoming English’: Nationality, Terminology, and Changing Sides in the Late Middle Ages
October 10, 2017 by
Late medieval English chronicles contain several puzzling references to the idea of people ‘becoming English’ by changing allegiance, usually in the context of war.
Law and Mental Competency in Late Medieval England
October 10, 2017 by
Between the late thirteenth century and 1540, when Henry VIII established the Court of Wards and Liveries, the English royal courts oversaw hundreds of inquisitions involving individuals thought to be idiots or ‘natural fools’.
Love and Lust in Later Medieval England: Exploring Powerful Emotions and Power Dynamics in Disputed Marriage Cases
October 4, 2017 by
Depositions from matrimonial litigation are a compellingly, if deceptively, vivid source for the words, sentiments and circumstances surrounding courtship and marriage making.
Tournaments, Jousts and Duels: Formal Combats in England and France, circa 1380 – 1440.
October 3, 2017 by
During the period circa 1380-1440, knights and men-at-arms in England and France engaged in armed combat in a range of different contexts. One of these contexts was in formal combats, which included jousts, judicial duels, and foot combats.
Wild to domestic and back again: the dynamics of fallow deer management in medieval England
October 1, 2017 by
The medieval fashion for parks transformed the English landscape: it is estimated that by 1300 AD over 3000 had been established, covering about 2% of the total area of countryside
Horses for work and horses for war: the divergent horse market in late medieval England
September 13, 2017 by
Rivaled perhaps only by the medieval knight, horses evoke some of the most familiar images associated with England in the Middle Ages.
An Assessment of the ‘Sweating Sickness’ Affecting England During the Tudor Dynasty
September 13, 2017 by
This strange disease, known variously as “sweating sickness,” Sudor anglicus, or simply the “Sweat” occurred almost exclusively in England and only during the first half of the Tudor dynasty, seemingly vanishing in 1551.
Decline or Transformation? Archaeology and the Late Medieval ‘Urban Decline’ in Southern England
September 10, 2017 by
Decline or Transformation? Archaeology and the Late Medieval ‘Urban Decline’ in Southern England By Ben Jervis Archaeological Journal, Vol.174:1 (2017) Abstract: Archaeological evidence is used to examine how urban life changed in the later medieval towns of Sussex, Surrey, and Hampshire in southern England, in light of ongoing debates about the existence of a fifteenth-century urban […]
Heads, shoulders, knees and toes: Injury and death in Anglo-Scottish combat, c.1296-c.1403
July 9, 2017 by
For all that has been written about this period, little, however, has been produced regarding the realities of war, the impact that it had on the individual soldier, or the wounds suffered by those who engaged in these conflicts.
The Medieval History of Stonehenge
June 23, 2017 by
How was Stonehenge perceived in the Middle Ages? Was it simply abandoned to the passage of time?
Viking ‘Thing’ discovered in Sherwood Forest
June 8, 2017 by
A Viking Assembly site or ‘Thing’ has been discovered in the heart of England’s Sherwood Forest.
How you can Follow Us!