What was the British Perception of the Turk between the Fall of Constantinople and the Siege of Vienna?
In assessing the British perception of the Turk during the halcyon centuries of the Ottoman Empire, it is hard not to drown in a cacophony of opinions. However, it would be simply too convenient to claim that the sources were too contradictory and fluid; the patterns too faint and far between, to construct a decent argument.
Site of Richard III dig was almost destroyed in the 19th century
Historians, archaeologists and the public are still waiting to see if the skeleton discovered last month belong to King Richard III, but the discovery may never have been possible if a Victorian building was built just a few inches closer to the long-forgotten burial spot.
An Ecological History in the Middle Ages? Theoretical bases and sources
This article presents the possibilities offered of building a History, in this case of the Middle Ages, that considers the relations people have had with the natural spaces and ihe urban environment where their lives have developed.
The Traction Trebuchet: A Reconstruction of an Early Medieval Siege Engine
Traction trebuchets were medieval rotating-beam siege engines; they were powered by a human team pulling ropes and hurled stone projectiles from a sling.
A Late Byzantine Swan Song: Maximos Neamonites and His Letters
Maximos Neamonites’ epistulae depict their author as a schoolmaster of primary education active in the second and the third decades of the fourteenth-century Constantinople (fl.1315–1325), true to generic conventions (and the realities of life), eking out a meager income on the basis of his teaching activities, and occasionally lifting his pen to interfere on behalf of others.
The Family of Wilfred I, the Hairy: Marriage and the Consolidation of Power, 800-1000
My principal objective is to reconsider the system of marriage alliances of the counts of the Marca Hispanica during the generations immediately before and after Wilfred I
The Hobbit: “sales are not very great” wrote Tolkien
The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien, was one of the most popular novels of the 20th century, but a letter by the author just after the book was published reveals that sales were initially slow and that a second printing may not happen.
“She should have more if she were ruled and guided by them”: Elizabeth Woodville and Margery Kempe, female agency in late medieval England
This thesis argues that while patriarchy was certainly present in England during the late medieval period, women of the middle and upper classes were able to exercise agency to a certain degree through using both the patriarchal bargain and an economy of makeshifts
The Regulations of James I concerning the Jewish Moneylenders: a Preliminary Report
This article enumerates the constitutions and statutes dictated by James I regarding the usurers, and the usurers of the Jews, between 1228 and 1251, from shortly before to shortly after the conquest of the kingdoms of Majorca and Valencia.
Building a Model Astrolabe
This paper presents a hands-on introduction to the medieval astrolabe, based around a working model which can be constructed from photocopies of the supplied figures.
What Kind of Medieval History should be Taught and Learned in Secondary School?
This study presents a reflection on the teaching of history in secondary education. Specifically, it addresses what topics of the history of the Middle Ages are taught and learned and to what end.
Crusaders in Crisis: Towards the Re-assessment of the Origins and Nature of the “People’s Crusade” of 1095-1096
In his Historia Ierosolymitana, completed within one generation of the First Crusade, Albert of Aachen tells a curious story about some rustics, guided by divinely inspired goose and a she-goat to take the holy path to Jerusalem.
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This castle currently on the market was originally a Norman Tower House, which dates back to at least 1206.
Procopius of Caesarea and the Emperor Justinian
My purpose is to examine how Justinian appeared to one contemporary observer, the historian Procopius of Caesarea
The Good, the Bad and the Undead: New Thoughts on the Ambivalence of Old Norse Sorcery
When taken collectively those sources imply that seiðr was a kind of operative magic which – among other things – enabled its practitioners to foresee the future, heal the sick, change weather conditions, reveal the hidden, shift into animal form or travel to other worlds in a state of trance.
Feudal Strength! Henry II and the Struggle for Royal Control in England
Henry II ruled over a vast empire that no English king before could match. Through his inheritance, military success, and political cunning he managed to wield power and influence on a level that no future medieval English monarch would.
Battle Seeking: The Contexts and Limits of Vegetian Strategy
This paper will sketch the outline of a general theory of pre-modern strategy, and attempt to place Vegetian patterns within that more general analysis.
The Lands and ‘Sisterlands’ of Aberdour, c.1100-1650
Of the lands in Aberdour, we begin in very uncertain time long before the Sisterlands became such and a period from which few documents are available. It is thought that shortly after 1100 some of the lands in what was later to become the burgh of Aberdour came to be held by a Norman-French family, the Viponts.
Sacrilege, Sacrifice and John Barbour’s Bruce
The narrative accomplished on this plane is critical to the foundation, or re-foundation, of royal order after a usurpation, yet it is more than a dynastic expedient;3 rather, it is a story that, even as it bridges the gaps in credibility and legitimacy attendant upon a new royal line, primally reinforces the governing fictions of kingship as an institution.
A Question of Truth: Barbour’s Bruce, Hary’s Wallace and Richard Coer de Lion
Tempting though it is to assume that these poems are simply peculiarly Scots, to do so denies them their place in British literature. A survey of English romances, moreover, reveals what appears to be an English equivalent: Richard Coer de Lion. It is also a hybrid poem about a recent king and military leader.
Robert Bruce’s Bones: reputations, politics and identities in nineteenth-century Scotland
‘We, on the whole, do our Hero-worship worse than any other Nation in this world ever did it before.’ Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881).
Technological Change in Medieval England: A Critique of the Neo-Malthusian Argument
The last two sections will address this issue by dividing the material into two periods preceding and following the great epidemic. The interpretation that will be provided is heavily indebted to Brenner.
The Battle of Tannenberg in 1410: Strategic Interests and Tactical Implementation
On July 15, 1410 the united Polish-Lithuanian Army destroyed the army of the Teutonic Order in the Battle of Tannenberg.
The Mortal Sea: Fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail
W. Jeffrey Bolster takes us through a millennium-long environmental history of our impact on one of the largest ecosystems in the world.
History and Hagiography in Matthew Paris’s Illustrated Life of Edward the Confessor
This thesis focuses on the Life of Edward the Confessor and explores the way in which Matthew visually represents the lengthy historical sequences that he has added to the more traditional account of the saint.