Opium in ninth century Baghdad
Much of what we now know about the medicinal value of opium was already known in antiquity. Produced in Egypt, particularly in Thebes, opium was exported all over the Mediterranean world
Stained Glass from the Cathedral of Tours: The Impact of the Sainte-Chapelle in the 1240s
The Ste.-Chapelle has long been recognized as the critical monument in the wide dissemination of the Parisian Court Style of stained glass in the mid-thirteenth century.
Deplatonising the Celestial Hierarchy. Peter John Olivi’s interpretation of the Pseudo-Dionysius
These two different pedigrees could not be easily reconciled. The encounter of biblical and Neoplatonic angels produced one of the most crucial questions that theologians had to face in the second half of the thirteenth century…
Medieval Rothley, Leicestershire: manor, soke and parish
In 1882 George Clark gave a paper on the manor and soke of Rothley which he described as ancient demesne, and he saw the soke as a place of safety enfranchised by the king for the holding of a court for tenants who held in socage.
The Study of Costume as an aid to dating of Italian Renaissance Paintings
The study of costume of the past is not a study which can be picked up for the sake of dating a painting and then dropped. It demands the same detailed research, background knowledge, and acute observation, combined with imaginative insight, that are essential to the study of art history.
John to John: the Manuale Sacerdotis and the Daily Life of a Parish Priest
The Manuale is similarly a pastoral work, addressed to the priest, indeed, to a specific priest. It is however a different sort of work from the Instructions, and it does not provide the details of the tenets of the Church which the Instructions provides…
The Royal Safeguard in Medieval France
In the eyes of contemporaries, the royal safeguard of the fourteenth century descended from an unbroken tradition going back to the emunitas and royal tuitio of Merovingian Frankland.
Homo Sacer: Power, Life and the Sexual Body in Old French Saints’ Lives
It might of course be argued that the comfort for this torture that Christine receives by God’s grace draws attention away from the cruelty of her punishments…
Missing medieval manuscript found after 50 years
In one otherwise unremarkable storage box in Connecticut College’s Shain Library, Ben Panciera made a remarkable discovery.
England and the Vikings
In 789 the reeve or sheriff of Wessex called Beaduheard went with several of his men to meet three ships of Norwegians who have entered the bay of Portland on the Channel. He thought that they were traders.
Battle of the Nations TV series
The Association of Historical Reenactors of the Middle Ages has created a unique film about the movement of historical reenactment of the Middle Ages.
“As Men Do with Their Wives”: Domestic Violence in Fourteenth-Century Lucca
Marriage disputes, such as those contained in the records of the episcopal court of Lucca, offer a glimpse into the meanings and effects of domestic violence in the fourteenth century.
The artistic patronage of Władysław II Jagiello. Beyond the opposition between Byzantium and the Renaissance
Due to his semi-Ruthenian roots, the king’s customs, piety, aesthetic taste, and artistic patronage are all frequently regarded as strongly influenced by Eastern elements.
Wales and the Crusades
What was Wales’s involvement in the Crusades and what role did Welsh soldiers play in the campaign to halt Islamic expansion into Jerusalem? How did Welsh participation in the Crusades help cement English control over Wales?
HASKINS CONFERENCE: Anonymous Vaticanus: Another Source for the Normans in the South?
This paper focused on sources detailing the Norman Conquest of Sicily.
HASKINS CONFERENCE:The Genesis and Argument of Henry of Huntingdon’s Historia Anglorum
Was Henry pro-English, or Pro-Norman?
The Countess Margaret of Henneberg and her 365 children
According to an obscure medieval legend, the Countess Margaret of Henneberg, a notable Dutch noblewoman, gave birth to 365 children in the year 1276.
Analysis of the Putative Remains of a European Patron Saint – St. Birgitta
According to legend, the skulls of St. Birgitta and her daughter Katarina are maintained in a relic shrine in Vadstena abbey, mid Sweden.
Age Patterns of Mortality During the Black Death in London, A.D. 1349-1350
This paper examines adult age-specific mortality patterns of one of the most devastating epidemics in recorded history, the Black Death of A.D. 1347-1351.
The military and administrative leadership of the Black Prince
Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales and Aquitaine, has been analyzed on many different levels for his military genius in battle during the Hundred Years War.
Medieval Leather Clothing – Interview with Jessica Caruso-Reynolds
Talking about medieval leather clothing with designer Jessica Caruso-Reynolds of Emporium Custom Leathers
The Emergence of the Medieval Family
By in large, the consensus is now that there was nothing linear, nothing coherent or historically invariant about the emergences and maturation of the medieval family. It is a wild, chaotic, and often difficult story to follow.
Discover Medieval Chester project gets funding
The ‘Discover Medieval Chester’ project, which intends to promote the rich history of medieval Chester as a multi-cultural, multi-lingual frontier city, has has received an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Knowledge Transfer Fellowship to the value of £172 000.
New App features Bodleian Treasures
The Bodleian Libraries have launched a mobile app featuring a selection of the rarest, most important and most evocative objects from the Bodleian collections.
New book examines the Cistercians in Wales
The Cistercians in the Middle Ages explores the European context for the emergence of what was very probably the most influential of all the medieval monastic orders.