An Examination of Women’s Rights in Medieval England
This paper explores the rights and perceptions of women within Medieval England. It discusses the laws that limited women personally and then examines the supposed legal freedoms they possessed in comparison to other countries of that time period.
‘It’s the Middle Ages, Yo!’: Race, Neo/medievalisms, and the World of Dragon Age
This article examines ways in which the idea of an authentic Middle Ages is deployed in fan debates over perceived racism in the role-playing video-game Dragon Age: Origins (DAO), its sequel Dragon Age II (DA2), and the forthcoming third game.
The Stench of Disease: Public Health and the Environment in Late-Medieval English towns and cities
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.
The Military Use of the Icon of the Theotokos and its Moral Logic in the Historians of the Ninth-Twelfth Centuries
Starting at least by the late tenth century, Byzantine emperors took icons of the Mother of God with them on campaign. This article examines the appearance of such icons in the narratives of historical texts.
How far did medieval society recognise lesbianism in this period?
There are countless practical issues surrounding the study of women and their sexuality during the Middle Ages. An unfortunate fact is that the majority of contemporary sources available from this period were written, compiled or transcribed by men. It can, as such, be incredibly difficult to detect the medieval women’s voice.
Christian Iberia: A Society Religiously Organized for War
Reconquista society in medieval Christian Spain is all too often considered through only economic and martial eyes. In this study of the prevelant cult of Santiago de Compostela (or St. James the Greater) I will demonstrate how medieval society meshed both war and religion.
Limitations and ethical implications of digitizing medieval manuscripts
This article seeks to identify limitations and ethical implications encountered when digitizing medieval manuscripts.
Prevalence of Maxillary Sinusitis in Leprous Individuals from a Medieval Leprosy Hospital
An investigation into maxillary sinusitis in the remains of individuals from the medieval hospital of St. James and St. Mary Magdalene, Chichester, England, offered an opportunity to study the possible relationship between this condition and leprosy in an archeological population.
Hobbes, Augustine, and the Christian nature of man in Leviathan
Scholars of Thomas Hobbes can be loosely divided into two camps: those who believe Hobbes retained strong medieval elements in his philosophy and those who argued that Hobbes’ philosophy marks a clear break from both Ancient philosophy and Christianity.
The politico-religious landscape of medieval Karelia
In historical sources the Karelians appear in the 12th century although archaeological excavations suggest that the amalgamation of groups of Baltic Finns, centered on the Karelian Isthmus, that came together from east and west respectively to form them originated in the late Iron Age and early Viking Age.
The Knights in the Middle Ages of England
Chivalry was a special phenomenon in the Middle Ages of Europe, and was also a part of the military system in the Middle Ages of Europe.
Res et significatio : The Material Sense of Things in the Middle Ages
This essay serves as an introduction to Friedrich Ohly’s life and work and offers an analytic orientation to the methodological and historical questions taken up by this special issue of Gesta dedicated to medieval conceptions of significationes rerum (the signification of things).
Men Who Talk about Love in Late Medieval Spain: Hugo de Urriés and Egalitarian Married Life
In the last third of the fifteenth century, Hugo de Urriés’s work can offer the modern reader a very rare and informative perspective from the points of view of social history and history of ideas.
Natural conditions in the Carpathian Basin of the middle ages
The analysis of natural conditions is a new field in Hungarian medieval research. This field could only come into existence with the spread of new sources of research, and with the need of drawing the most realistic picture of medieval living conditions with the help of more – previously ignored – data and facts. This field of research may have a special meaning as according to sources of the age, the Carpathian Basin was one of the natural Paradises of Medieval Europe.
Vessels of Passage: Reading the Ritual of the Late-Medieval Ship of Fools
My paper explores the late-medieval image of the ship of fools. The metaphor originates in the fifteenth-century carnivals of Europe and was depicted in Sebastian Brant’s 1494 compilation, Das Narrenschiff. The paper explores the underlying dynamic of the imagery and its origins in carnivalesque rituals as well as how the motif was exploited by Brant, becoming a literary force at the turn of the sixteenth century.
‘Waiting Only for a Pretext’: A New Chronology for the Sixth-Century Byzantine Invasion of Spain
This article argues that the common modern version of the invasion, in which Byzantine forces arrived in 552, fought on the side of the usurper Athanagild until 555, and then fought against Athanagild for a brief period before concluding a treaty with him, is flawed and, relying on a more precise reading of the sources, proposes a new chronology and narrative, in which Byzantine forces did not arrive until 554.
Ferdinand the Saint Prince of Portugal
Ferdinand was doomed to have a very sad story.
The very first Anglo Saxon toast?
If the Historia should not be used to accurately retrace the history of Britain, it nonetheless features some of those tiny hints historians must seriously attend to.
Love in the Time of the Black Death
When I first started writing this blog, I wanted to tell a medieval love story. It is the story of the dashing Black Prince of Wales, and his Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent.
Genomes of Richard III to be sequenced
A scientist at the University of Leicester is leading a project to reveal the complete genetic profile of Richard III, which will reveal details such as eye and hair colour, and if he was genetically-disposed to certain diseases.
Medieval Images of Love
How did medieval artists depict love? Here are a few images of love from medieval manuscripts
Judith’s Necessary Androgyny: Representations of Gender in the Old English Judith
The Old English poem Judith explores Anglo-Saxon representations of femininity and masculinity by constructing a double-gendered hero who differs from the biblical version of the same woman.
Bright Beginnings: Jewish Christian Relations in the Holy Land, AD 400-700
This paper shows that Christian and Jewish relations in the Holy Land between the fourth and seventh centuries, according to the archaeological evidence, were characterized by peaceful co-existence.
Whose Golden Age? Some Thoughts on Jewish-Christian in Medieval Iberia
The medieval period in Spanish history has alternately been cast as a Golden Age of interfaith harmony and an example of the ultimate incompatibility of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities.