The concept of territory in the late Anglo-Saxon and early Medieval cult of Saints in England
The Cult of Saints, the practice of venerating holy figures and their relics, and the events that surround such worship, was widespread in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval England.
Good King John
For centuries King John has been regarded as the embodiment of an evil ruler. But, says Graham E. Seel, this image is largely the creation of monastic chroniclers with an axe to grind. A close examination of contemporary records reveals a more nuanced character.
64% Majority Rule in Ducal Venice: Voting for the Doge
How was Venice able to preserve herself for over 12 centuries, her status as a financial center and, especially in the last three centuries, as an artistic center intact and for lengthy periods unchallenged? The secret appears to lie to a considerable degree in the political institutions by which Venice was governed.
History of epilepsy in Medieval Iranian medicine
The history of epilepsy in Medieval Persian medicine is not well-known in the Western world. This article presents the clinical approaches according to which Medieval Iranian practitioners viewed epilepsy and dealt with its problems.
Museum Secrets, Season 2: Episode 2 Preview: American Museum of Natural History
From dinosaurs to meteorites to the origins of the human species, the American Museum of Natural History houses 32 million objects, is visited by over 4 million people annually, and has a stellar research staff that mounts over 100 expeditions every year.
Anatomy during the Italian Renaissance: A Brief History of How Artists Influenced its Development
The earliest dissections took place in the homes of the wealthy and became quite common by the 1400’s. However, dissections were still only performed on criminals of low birth and were regarded as a great humility.
The Law is an Ass: Reading E.P. Evans’ The Medieval Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals
In this essay I address a little-known chapter in the lengthy history of crimes against (nonhuman) animals. My focus is not crimes committed by humans against animals, as such, but a practical outcome of the seemingly bizarre belief that animals are capable of committing crimes against humans.
The Culture of Death in late Medieval and early Renaissance Italy
An attempt will be made to show that it is precisely during this period that certain fundamental changes in the conception of and attitudes towards death took place, changes that can be seen as the starting points of a long process that would eventually lead to the medical and utterly despiritualized view of death prevalent in the contemporary Western world.
Review: Red Riding Hood
This movie – a loosely-based retelling of the fable of Red Riding Hood and set in a loosely-based version of a medieval village – came out in the spring of 2011 with much promotion. Aimed at the teenage audience / fans of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight saga, the film received mostly poor reviews and small audiences.
The Value of the Icelandic Sagas
When I speak of the value of the Icelandic sagas, it is only natural that I should be asked: From whose point of view?
Popular Piety in the Middle Ages: What is Popular?
To speak, then of a ‘Learned faith’ of the Middle Ages (or, for that matter, of any age) over and against a ‘Popular faith,’ as though it were a higher, purer form of faith, is hardly correct.
Jihād and Crusade: Byzantine positions towards the notions of “holy war”
The main aim of the current study is to re-approach and elaborate this argument through scrutinizing Byzantine attitudes towards the concept of crusade.
Magic
No one knew the risks and rewards of magic better than Agrippa. His notorious handbook, De occulta philosophia, circulated in manuscript by 1510, though it was printed only in 1533, over the complaints of Dominican inquisitors.
Leo Africanus: The Man with Many Names
Very little is known about the actual life of Leo Africanus, in spite of his well-established posthumous fame.
The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VI, 1065-1109
The reign of Alfonso VI was also to be the setting within which León-Castilla joined in the emergence of a new western Europe and itself also assimilated the new norms and structures that were being erected everywhere there.
The Economics of Organizing 9th Century Viking raids
Some scholars have argued that the early raids were a deliberate ‘softening up’ of Europe, a deliberate prelude to land-grabbing. But this view assumes that raiders were displaced farmers, victims of climate change or population pressure.
The Principled Resignation of Thomas More
More often referred to himself in a humble way that did not accurately reflect the incredible impact of his achievements both as a great common lawyer and as the greatest chancellor in the history of England.
Emperor Frederick II (1194–1250) and the political particularism of the German princes
After an extremely perilous early career during which he survived the plots of several adventurers, politicians, and churchmen who took advantage of the fact that he had lost both parents by the age of four, this child turned into one of the most admired and hated of all the powerful rulers in thirteenth-century Europe…
The jus primae noctis as a male power display: A review of historic sources with evolutionary interpretation
Although most historians would agree today that there is no authentic proof of the actual exercise of the custom in the Middle Ages, disagreements persist concerning the origin, meaning, and development of a widespread popular belief in this alleged “right” and the existence of symbolic gestures associated with it.
Cultural realities and reappraisals in English castle-study
Castles have a colourful, violent and romantic image compounded of atavistic brutalism, militarism and Disney. They are the favourite of the self-taught discoverer and compiler, of the instinctual war-gamer and of the soldierly antiquarian.
River navigation in Medieval England
The significance of Medieval water transport lay in its low cost, for carriage by land could be more than ten times the price of transport by water; indicating the price differential was as great, if not greater, than during the industrial revolution.
Museum Secrets, Season 2, Episode 1: State Hermitage Museum
Museum Secrets is a wonderful show, which reminds me why I enjoy history so much. I am now very much looking forward to seeing the rest of this season’s episodes.
No Longer a Feuding Society? Legal Practice and Kingship in Late 13th-Century Iceland
The Icelandic Free State (c.930-1262) is well known as a model of ‘a feuding society,’ due to its unique social system based on the principle of feuding without any jurisdiction by a king. Iceland came under the rule of a Norwegian king in the early 1260s, and it is generally thought that feuds in Iceland came to an end as a result of the royal legislation introduced from 1271