BOOK REVIEW: “Defending the City of God” : A Medieval Queen, the First Crusades, and the Quest for Peace in Jerusalem, by Sharan Newman
This is my review of Sharan Newman’s latest book, Defending the City of God: A Medieval Queen, the First Crusades, and the Quest for Peace in Jerusalem.
Machiavelli: The Graphic Novel
A project to create a print version of a graphic novel depicting the life of the Italian politician and philosopher Machiavelli has successfully reached its fundraising goals.
Mortality Risk and Survival in the Aftermath of the Medieval Black Death
The results indicate that there are significant differences in survival and mortality risk, but not birth rates, between the two time periods, which suggest improvements in health following the Black Death, despite repeated outbreaks of plague in the centuries after the Black Death.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered: How Messages were sent in the Middle Ages
Let’s imagine, for five minutes, what it must have been like to try and communicate across long distance in the Middle Ages.
Did the Vikings reach Madeira?
New research about mice on Madeira suggests that the Vikings may have visited the Atlantic island 400 years before it was colonized.
Ten Thoughts on Game of Thrones, Season 4 Episode 5: First Of His Name
This week’s episode of Game of Thrones sees the end of Craster’s Keep, and continues to advance the various plotlines.
Medievalism, the Beautiful Book, and the Arts and Crafts Movement
My objective here is to examine briefly the influence of Medievalism on the emergence of the concept of the beautiful book in the Arts and Crafts movement, first in England and then its impact in publication design in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Top 10 Medieval Castles in England
Here is our list of ten castles you can explore that have largely remained the same since they were built in the Middle Ages.
How Chickens looked different in the Middle Ages
A new study on domestic chickens has revealed that until the end of the Middle Ages they looked very different from the ones we see on farms today.
Approaches to paganism and uses of the pre-Christian past in Geoffrey of Monmouth and Snorri Sturluson
The dissertation is a comparative analysis of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s and Snorri Sturlusson’s descriptions of paganism and uses of pre-Christian history. What was the function of these pre-Christian narratives, and what apporaches were used by the two authors to construct a complete image of the past, acceptable to their contemporary societies?
Seals and Sea Ice in Medieval Greenland
With a view to placing such developments in the context of changes in the past, the focus of this paper is an interdisciplinary study of the interaction of different seal species in Arctic/North Atlantic regions with sea ice, and, more specifically, the implications for the Norse settlements in Greenland in medieval times.
Island Words, Island Worlds: The Origins and Meanings of Words for ‘Islands’ in North-West Europe
This paper proposes the notion that words mirror ideas, perspectives and world- views. Etymologies and meanings of general words for ‘islands’ in a number of languages in North and West Europe are then discussed.
The role of goat in English medieval husbandry and economy
This paper presents a summary of an on-going PhD project that aims to re-assess the role of goats in the medieval economy and society of England.
Environmental management in medieval London: was London a ‘filthy city’?
The BBC series ‘Filthy Cities’ presented medieval London as knee deep in muck, with rivers of butchers’ waste washing into streams and chamber pots emptied on the heads of hapless passers-by.
From Asset in War to Asset in Diplomacy: Orkney in the Medieval Realm of Norway
This paper looks at how Orkney figured in Norwegian royal strategies in the west and presents key examples which show its transition from a tool of war to a forum for peace.
What if Arianism had won?
The fourth annual Princeton in Europe Lecture — Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch asks ‘What if Arianism had won?’
What was the best wine in the Middle Ages?
When medieval people chose what wine to drink, they might check at its colour, smell and taste. More importantly, the choice was often an individual one based what was the healthiest drink for them.
Music as Text and Music as Image
Danielle Trynoski reports on ‘Music as Text and Music as Image’ by Susan Boynton at the Medieval Academy of America and Medieval Association of the Pacific Conference
BOOKS: Canterbury Cathedral
After visiting Canterbury Cathedral, I was inspired to suggest books that relate to Canterbury’s famous Archbishops, history and beauty.
The Cross-dressing Women of Medieval London
Women going around dressed as men, wearing men’s hats, and even having their hair cut short, was not an acceptable practice in medieval society. However, in late medieval London there were at least 13 cases of women accused of doing just that.
Vikings – Review of Season 2 Finale: The Lord’s Prayer
The season finale of Vikings delivers on a year of secret plots and wavering loyalties, with King Horik finally making his move…
The Daily Life of Slavery and the Global Reach of Slavery in Medieval Egypt, 969-1250 CE
This dissertation examines the geography of the slave trade, the role of slavery in the household, and the lives of domestic slave women in the Egyptian Jewish community under the rule of the Fatimid caliphate and Ayyubid sultanate
Cultures of Death: Warrior Suicide in Medieval Europe and Japan
In the course of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the warrior elites of Japan and northwestern Europe, despite many similarities in ethos and lifestyle, developed very different cultures of death.
Apocalyptic Calculators of the Later Middle Ages
The purpose of my talk today is to explore why and how astrology became an accepted tool for apocalyptic calculation in the later Middle Ages.
‘A great heathen fist from the North’: Vikings, Norse Mythology, and Medievalism in Nordic Extreme Metal Music
Viking metal is a dynamic and popular subgenre of metal music of burgeoning popularity coming primarily from Nordic countries.