Recreation and Representation: The Middle Ages on Film (1950-2006)
If people seem to like films as a whole, and they seem to like the Middle Ages in general, why are they so frequently dissatisfied with films made about the Middle Ages in particular?
The case for a West Saxon minuscule
Julian Brown’s famous analysis of what he termed the Insular system of scripts marked out a number of routes, now well trodden, through the debris of undated and unlocalized manuscript material from the pre-Viking-Age British Isles.
Examples of Medieval Plague Treatises from Central Europe
Studying the phenomenon of the plague in the Middle Ages one discovers that by far the most numerous source material directly connected to the epidemics is represented by the plague treatises
Tartars on the Frontiers of Europe: The English Perspective
The relevant records in English chronicles reveal little about the actual historical events of the East Central European region in the thirteenth century but say a great deal about the perception and knowledge of a core country about the periphery of Western Christianity.
Rare manuscript of Boccaccio’s work discovered in England
A manuscript dating back to the year 1400 has been discovered at the University of Manchester’s John Rylands Library – it contains French translation of Giovanni Boccaccio’s work ‘De casibus virorum illustrium’ (On the Fates of Famous Men).
Abortions in Byzantine times (325-1453 AD)
All legislation of Byzantium from the earliest times also condemned abortions. Consequently, foeticide was considered equal to murder and infanticide and the result was severe punishments for all persons who participated in an abortive technique reliant on drugs or other methods. The punishments could extend to exile, confiscation of property and death.
Looking to the future of medieval archaeology
A symposium entitled ‘Looking to the Future’ was held as part of the Society for Medieval Archaeology’s 50th anniversary to reflect upon current and forthcoming issues facing the discipline. The discussion was wide-ranging, and is summarized here under the topics of the research potential of development-led fieldwork, the accessibility of grey literature, research frameworks for medieval archaeology, the intellectual health of the discipline, and relevance and outreach.
Inquiring into Adultery and Other Wicked Deeds: Episcopal Justice in Tenth- and Early Eleventh-Century Italy
This article suggests that Italian bishops often had recourse to spiritual penalties to exercise their coercive authority over serious offences during the tenth and early eleventh centuries.
Lay Religion and Pastoral Care in Thirteenth Century England: the Evidence of a Group of Short Confession Manuals
This poses a question: where did these engaged laypeople come from, and when? There is some evidence that suggests they should be pushed back to the thirteenth century.
The Anglo-Saxon influence on Romano-Britain : research past and present
The Romano-British to Anglo-Saxon transition in Britain is one of the most striking transitions seen in the archaeological record. Changes in burial practice between these periods, along with historical, anthropological, environmental and linguistic evidence have all been thought to indicate that a mass migration of Angles and Saxons into Britain occurred in the 5th century A.D.
Prince Michael the Brave in the History of the Romanians
Michael the Brave was a Romanian prince, one of the greatest personalities of the Romanian history, who lived during the sixteenth century.
“Her Husband Went Overseas”: The Legal and Social Status of Abandoned Jewish Women in Medieval Provence and Languedoc
This paper deals with the legal term ‘medinat ha-yam’ (meaning ‘overseas”) in Jewish law, which, among other things, refers to a husband abandoning his wife, and to debtors who refuse to pay their debts, and commercial partners who took someone else’s property out of their homeland.
Marie of Guise, Queen of Scotland
Marie of Guise was born on November 20, 1515 in the castle of Bar-le-Duc in northeast France.
A life of Adam Pode in fourteenth century Gloucester
We first meet Adam Pode on 23 June 1324 when he was a witness to a grant of a tenement in Gloucester from Lawrence son of Walter to his daughter Felicia and her husband John Coof.
Secular Musicians in Late Medieval England
To the musician, approaching this material for the first time, it may come as a shock to find how vital to English life and thought, how integral a part of English society were secular music and musicians in the Middle Ages.
Original copies of the Magna Carta to be reunited in 2015
The four surviving original copies of Magna Carta will be brought together for the first time in history in 2015, the year of the 800th anniversary of the issue of the Charter by King John in 1215.
Have archaeologists found a lost Viking trading centre in Norway?
It was a routine archaeological dig, necessitated by the expansion of Norway’s main north-south highway, the E6, just north of Trondheim, the country’s third largest city. But the finds surprised archaeologists from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s University Museum, who now believe they have solved a centuries-old puzzle posed in Norse sagas.
What did the Vikings ever do for us?
Well they were a lot more generous in their beach ownership laws, says Derek McGlashan
Border Fury! The Muslim campaigning tactics in Asia Minor through the writings of the Byzantine military treatise Περί παραδρομής του κυρού Νικηφόρου του βασιλέως
These Byzantine military manuals formed the ‘legacy’ of experienced and glorious generals in the warfare in the East and they reflect the practice of older and well-established strategies and tactics, along with a number of innovative ideas put into practice, and the task of the historian is to distinguish between the two.
Murder, Mayhem and a very small Penis
On a Friday evening in the spring of 1375, William Cantilupe, a knight of the relatively young age of thirty and the great-great-nephew of St Thomas of Hereford, was murdered by members of his household.
Nessie: Stories of the Scottish Highlands from the Vita Columbae
The first story that influenced my decision to use this manuscript was Columba’s encounter with the Loch Ness Monster. It caught my attention that a common folk tale that everyone knows of today was already in existence in the 690s AD.
Voices on the Medieval Page, Part 1: The Reader
Considering how special it was to own a manuscript, it may seem remarkable that medieval readers wrote in their books.
Illuminated Manuscripts: Art and Science
Stella Panayotova from the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, discusses how her research using scientific observations and pigment analysis is shedding light on how medieval manuscripts were made.