The BBC series ‘Filthy Cities’ presented medieval London as knee deep in muck, with rivers of butchers’ waste washing into streams and chamber pots emptied on the heads of hapless passers-by.
BOOKS: The Feuding Families of Medieval and Renaissance Italy
March 15, 2014 By
Put down the Godfather, turn off the Sorpanos, and check out the real Italian families of Medieval and Renaissance Italy!
The Red Sea and the Port of Clysma. A Possible Gate of Justinian’s Plague
March 10, 2014 By
The aim of this study is to present the sea and land commercial routes of the Byzantine Egypt and their role in the dissemination of the plague bacteria Yersinia pestis from the Red Sea to Mediterranean ports. The Mediterranean port of Pelusium was considered as the starting point of the first plague pandemic…
Women in early towns
March 8, 2014 By
What do we know about women’s role in these societies? What did women do and how numerous were they? And did they pay the same role in Viking-Age proto-towns as in more developed medieval urban communities?
Notarial Convention in the Facilitation of Trade and Economics in Mid-Thirteenth Century Marseille
February 22, 2014 By
This paper examines Marseillaise notarial documents of 1248 from the cartulary of Girauld Amalric. Amalric’s cartulary demonstrates how notarial techniques and related legal conventions facilitated Marseille’s long- and short-distance trade.
The Stench of Disease: Public Health and the Environment in Late-Medieval English towns and cities
February 15, 2014 By
This article explores the urban environmental concerns of late-medieval English towns and cities and argues that these urban areas had a form of public health.
Violence and Repression in Late Medieval Italy
February 8, 2014 By
Between the second half of the thirteenth century and the first half of the fifteenth, central and northern Italian city-states frequently suffered moments of disruption of the social peace because of factional battles.
The medieval social topography of Szeged
February 8, 2014 By
As the name historical social topography implies it comprehends the ancient location and distribution of particular groups and layers of inhabitants in a settlement.
Medieval Thought and its Architectural Expression
February 2, 2014 By
This dissertation will study the correlation and influences between a series of underlying beliefs and how these find expression in the architecture and setting of place.
Medieval Tavern Names
January 31, 2014 By
Looking for a cool name to call your drinking establishment? Check out what the names of these taverns from medieval London.
Medievalists gather in New Zealand for conference
January 29, 2014 By
Medieval scholars from around the world are meeting over the next couple of days at Massey University in New Zealand to discuss urban issues in the Middle Ages, such as infrastructure, immigration and crime.
Youth and Old Age in Late Medieval London
January 14, 2014 By
This article is concerned with the relationship between life stages and a person’s place in urban society. The two life stages studied here are the end of youth and the onset of old age, that is to say the two stages at either end of that period in life when men were most active economically, socially, and politically, when they were expected to build a family and run a business.
The Government of Medieval London
January 6, 2014 By
The city had always, even from Roman times, a great deal of control over its own governance.
Ivan the Terrible: Centralization in Sixteenth Century Muscovy
December 29, 2013 By
From 1565-1572, the Oprichnina was a land within Muscovy of Ivanís choosing where he alone held sole power. The Zemschina was the remaining portion of Muscovy that was governed by the state administration.
The Richest Bachelor in Late Medieval Reval
December 21, 2013 By
When Hans Bouwer had his last will and testament composed on 9 April 1519, he bequeathed approximately 7000 Rigan marks to different institutions and individuals.
Brewing, Politics and Society in an Early Modern German Town – a case study of Görlitz in Upper Lusatia
December 16, 2013 By
In the Middle Ages, the Upper-Lusatian town of Görlitz – today situated on Germany’s Eastern periphery close to the Polish border – was at the heart of a wider European trading network.
Projecting Power in Sixth-Century Rome: The church of Santi Cosma e Damiano in the late antique Forum Romanum
December 4, 2013 By
In the year 526 CE, the bishop of Rome, Pope Felix IV, petitioned the Ostrogoth king Theoderic for permission to convert a small complex in the Forum Romanum into a place of worship dedicated to the Saints Cosmas and Damian…This paper critiques traditional interpretations of this church—its physical location and its apse mosaic—in light of new research that nuances our understanding of the historical context in which it was commissioned.
Fighting the plague in medieval towns
December 4, 2013 By
A new article is revealing how French towns coped with waves of plague outbreaks and other diseases in the late Middle Ages. It reveals that in these towns they made vigorous attempts to improve hygiene, employ doctors and isolate those infected so they would not spread the disease.
The Commercial Map of Constantinople
November 29, 2013 By
The commercial topography of Constantinople was in part determined by the fact that it was a sea-bound city on seven hills, making access from the port to the forum and other commercial premises a key necessity in urban development.
Shops and Shopping in Britain: from market stalls to chain stores
November 29, 2013 By
The first retail shops, as opposed to those of craftsmen and artisans selling goods they made themselves, were drapers, mercers, haberdashers and grocers.
Finland, Tallinn and the Hanseatic League: Foreign Trade and the Orientation of Roads in Medieval Finland
November 24, 2013 By
What was the role of Finland in the trade of the Hanseatic League in the Middle Ages? Thisquestion has been widely discussed in Finnish history since 1882, when J.W. Ruuth publishedhis study on the relationship between Finland and the Hanse before 1435.
Healthscaping a Medieval City: Lucca’s Curia viarum and the Future of Public Health History
November 24, 2013 By
Healthscaping a Medieval City: Lucca’s Curia viarum and the Future of Public Health History G. Geltner (Department of History, University of Amsterdam) Urban History: 40, 3 (2013) Abstract In early fourteenth-century Lucca, one government organ began expanding its activities beyond the maintenance of public works to promoting public hygiene and safety, and in ways that suggest both […]
Thomas Fitzanthony’s Borough: Medieval Thomastown in Irish History, 1171-1555
November 22, 2013 By
Thomas Fitzanthony’s Borough: Medieval Thomastown in Irish History, 1171-1555 Marilyn Silverman In the Shadow of the Steeple VI, Duchas-Tullaherin Parish Heritage Society (1998) Abstract In the year 1295, King Edward I “ordered that all goods belonging to subjects of the King of France should be seized and sold”. A man named Richard Ie Marshall then […]
Construction and Conception Techniques of Residential Buildings and Urbanism in Medieval Europe around 1100 AD: The Example of Cluny, France
November 16, 2013 By
Everybody knows that the Burgundian abbey of Cluny was one of the intellectual and spiritual centres of Europe during the High Middle Ages. But also the surrounding little town is of scientific interest.
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