Above Lisbon’s skyline of colourful tiled houses and red roofs lies Castelo de São Jorge, a dominating, but beautiful, 11th century fortress in the heart of this vibrant city…
Medieval Fort Building 101
September 24, 2015 By
What does it take to build a fortification in the 10th century?
How Well Do You Know the 10th Century?
August 5, 2015 By
From Vikings to churchmen (and women) – Here are ten questions to challenge your knowledge of the 10th century.
Eadgifu, Anglo-Saxon Queen
July 4, 2015 By
What little historical records we have pertaining to Queen Eadgifu tell us she exercised considerable power.
Medieval Beekeeping
June 21, 2015 By
Beekeeping has been a practice going back to ancient times, and during the Middle Ages one could find many farms that kept beehives and collected honey. However, few medieval texts offer indepth information on how this was done. One
Fashion Old and New: Weaving and Tailoring in the Early Medieval and Early Modern Period
June 9, 2015 By
Fashion fan? Interested in medieval and early modern textiles? Then this was your session. 2 papers from opposite ends of the spectrum: Early Medieval weaving and Early Modern Tailoring.
Bishops and Their Towns
June 1, 2015 By
Another #KZOO2015 post – this one examines Bishops and Their Towns.
Medieval Pest Control
May 27, 2015 By
Have a pest troubling you? In the Middle Ages, you could try these remedies to get rid of them – poisons, traps, or even writing a letter to them!
Medieval Viagara
April 4, 2015 By
Over a thousand years before Viagra was invented, medieval men were looking for ways to treat erectile dysfunction. We take a look at the prescriptions offered in one of the most popular medical textbooks from the Middle Ages.
Domiciling the Evangelists in Anglo-Saxon England: a Fresh Reading of Aldred’s colophon in the Lindisfarne Gospels
December 20, 2014 By
What is actually reliable about this highly literary colophon is Aldred’s purpose in writing the gloss: to give the Evangelists a voice to address ‘all the brothers’− particularly the Latinless.
Earliest known piece of polyphonic music discovered
December 17, 2014 By
New research has uncovered the earliest known practical piece of polyphonic music, an example of the principles that laid the foundations of European musical tradition.
Charlemagne’s Denarius, Constantine’s Edicule, and the Vera Crux
December 1, 2014 By
In 806 a much-discussed silver denarius bearing the likeness of Charlemagne was issued. This is called the “temple-type” coin due to the (as yet unidentified) architectural structure illustrated on the reverse side, and which is explicitly labeled as representing the epitome of “Christian Religion.”
Circa 1000
November 29, 2014 By
Three Yale University faculty members discussing ‘Circa 1000,’ a graduate course that looks at happenings worldwide at the turn of the 10th century.
Of sagas and sheep: Toward a historical anthropology of social change and production for market, subsistence and tribute in early Iceland
November 6, 2014 By
This dissertation deals with the formation of chiefdoms, communities, ecclesiastical institutions and state, and with production for market, subsistence and tribute in early Iceland in the context of climatic change and ecological succession.
The Contours, Frequency and Causation of Subsistence Crises in Carolingian Europe (750-950)
October 7, 2014 By
The Contours, Frequency and Causation of Subsistence Crises in Carolingian Europe (750-950) Timothy P. Newfield Crisis Alimentarias en la Edad Media: Modelos, Explicaciones y Representaciones (Milenio, Lleida, 2013), pp. 117-172. Abstract The subsistence crises of Carolingian Europe have been widely overlooked in modern histories of the early Middle Ages. Detailed treatment has yet to be […]
Byzantine Military Advice
September 16, 2014 By
‘General, when the enemy acts boldly, entice him into premature, reckless action and useless maneuvers. If he is on timid side, hit him hard with constant and rapid attacks. You must know the disposition of the enemy general and employ your own stratagems accordingly.’
Hungary’s Conversion to Christianity: The Establishment of Hungarian Statehood and its Consequences to the Thirteenth Century
September 1, 2014 By
The Carpathian Basin occupies a peculiar place in history. It was the ground where Roman-Germanic world met that of the Slavs and mounted nomad peoples, where no group had achieved sustained unity before the state of Hungary was founded.
Miracula, Saints’ Cults and Socio-Political Landscapes: Bobbio, Conques and post-Carolingian society
August 21, 2014 By
Despite the centrality of monastic sources to debates about social and political transformation in post-Carolingian Europe, few studies have approached the political and economic status of monasteries and their saints’ cults in this context, to which this thesis offers a comparative approach.
Enemy and Ancestor: Viking Identities and Ethnic Boundaries in England and Normandy, c.950 – c.1015
August 12, 2014 By
This thesis is a comparison of ethnicity in Viking Age England and Normandy. It focuses on the period c.950-c.1015, which begins several generations after the initial Scandinavian settlements in both regions.
The Sisters of King Æthelstan
July 24, 2014 By
King Edward the Elder, son and successor of Alfred the Great of England, had many children.
White Croatia and the arrival of the Croats: an interpretation of Constantine Porphyrogenitus on the oldest Dalmatian history
July 23, 2014 By
The article examines Constantine Porphyrogenitus’ (913–59) witness on the arrival of the Croats in Dalmatia during the seventh century. The emperor’s narrative proposes a migration from a land called White Croatia, located somewhere in central Europe, and a battle with the Avars in order to secure their new territory.
Melancholia in medieval Persian literature: The view of Hidayat of Al-Akhawayni
July 16, 2014 By
This paper aims to review Al-Akhawayni’s 10th century knowledge on melancholia which can represent the early concept of this disorder in the Near East.
Æthelstan, Anglo-Saxon King of England
July 10, 2014 By
Æthelstan was the first King of Wessex to bring together all the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in England. He was well educated, very pious and a collector of saints relics and manuscripts. He was also a formidable warrior.
Saints, Tradition and Monastic Identity: The Ghent Relics, 850-1100
July 7, 2014 By
The extraordinary story ofthe Ghent relics was first told by Oswald Holder- Egger in an article published in 1886. During his work on part two of volume 15 of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores series, which Holder- Egger had just finished, he had come across the hagiographie literature produced at the abbeys of St Baafs and St Pieters in Ghent.
Kingdom, emporium and town: the impact of Viking Dublin
June 24, 2014 By
In recent years the precise location and nature of Viking Dublin have been much debated. It is now generally accepted that there was a longphort phase from 841 to 902: a period of enforced exile from 902 to 917, and thereafter a dún phase.
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