The Reenactors: A Documentary on Medieval reenactors
We are visiting the medieval fair on Gotland. Here we find people dedicating mostly of their spare time to as accurate as possible recreate medieval life. What makes them want to do that? Is it geeks escaping reality or a proper presentation of researched history? Or maybe a little bit of both?
Britain and the beginning of Scotland
In this lecture Professor Dauvit Broun explores recent rethinking on Scottish origins by discussing the role of Britain as an ‘idea’, connections with England, the emergence of Scotland as a country in the 13th century, and the beginnings of the Scottish kingdom itself.
Greenland Norse Knowledge of the North Atlantic
What did the Norse know about climate, and what was the role of driftwood in their lives?
Yggdrasill and the divine ‘food chain’
One of the better-known images Old Norse mythology has passed down to us is, without a doubt, that of the ash Yggdrasill: the holy place of the gods. There, as High said to Gangleri, each day the Nordic deities held their courts.
Coeur de Lion in Captivity
In December 1192 Richard I was seized near Vienna by Duke Leopold V of Austria.
The Adamites: Hippie Heretics of the Middle Ages
Wandering through forests and hills, some of them fell into such insanity that men and women threw off their clothes and went nude, saying that clothes had been adopted because of the sin of the first parents, but that they were in a state of innocence.
Air Pollution and Fuel Crises in Preindustrial London, 1250-1650
I intend to show in this paper that the occurrence of air pollution in London before the Industrial Revolution was symptomatic of one of these basic environmental problems
Top 10 Strangest Battles of the Middle Ages
From drunken armies to blind kings fighting, the Middle Ages saw some unusual battles. Here is our list of the 10 strangest battles of the Middle Ages
The Baltic Frontier: Why were there no Norwegian crusades in the Baltic?
In this paper I will focus on some of the reasons why Norwegian interests in the 12th and 13th century differed from that of the other Scandinavian and German ambitions in the Baltic region.
The Muslim Conquest of Byzantine Palestina – Monstrous Invasion or Peaceful Occupation?
The Persian and Muslim invasions of Palestina brought with them large-scale changes to the whole region
A figurine from Stare Bielsko. Sexuality in Middle Ages
ceramic figurine from late Middle Ages, found in Stare Bielsko, shows a couple that is having sex and can be a good example of not such sanctimonious way of thinking.
“Viking” Pilgrimage to the Holy Land fram! fram! cristmenn, crossmenn, konungsmenn! (Oláfs saga helga, ch. 224.)
The Viking predilection for travel and adventure made it easy for Christianized Scandinavians to adopt the idea of pilgrimage. It was, after all, not entirely unlike their own secular tradition of going a-viking.
Michelangelo, Copernicus and the Sistine Chapel
A detailed examination of the themes, motifs and secrets held with Michelagelo’s masterpiece.
How well do you know the origins of English words? – Part 2
Can you tell which English words come from Anglo-Saxon or Old Norse?
King Richard lll to be reburied on March 26th
Leicester Cathedral has announced that the remains of King Richard III will be laid to rest on Thursday 26th March 2015.
Hildegard of Bingen
Hildegard of Bingen stands out as a visionary and strong intellectual power of the Middle Ages. She was a writer letters to people of all rank and standing and of books on subjects ranging from theology to medicine, natural history, poetry and cosmology. She was also a composer, both of words and music. What really makes Hildegard extraordinary is she did this at a time when women rarely did these things.
A Good Day for a Trebuchet, Part II: The Siege of the Sandpit
The fact that you can build a trebuchet out of found materials and still have it manage to function consistently and accurately speaks to the genius of the original design.
The Myth of Pope Joan
The legend of Pope Joan is a myth whose origins can be traced to papal politics in the thirteenth century.
King Richard III Visitor Centre now open
The site where Richard III’s remains were discovered in 2012 has now become a museum to the English king and the remarkable archaeological find.
Nostalgia for Byzantium: How and Why we Continue To Sail
Nostalgia for Byzantium precedes its fall in 1453.
Women, Heresy, and Crusade: Toward a Context for Jacques de Vitry’s Relationship to the Early Beguines
Grundmann‘s search for a founding figure is understandable in light of the problematic nature of Beguine institutional history. Beguine historiography has long struggled with the anomalous lack of clear foundation documents and accounts.
Venetian Trading Networks in the Medieval Mediterranean
To understand the system of business relations within the commercial network of the Republic of Venice, this article adopts a network analysis that differs from a standard narrative based on a privileged subset of actors or relations. It allows us to examine the socially mixed group of entrepreneurs, brokers, and shippers at the heart of Venice’s economic system.
Kissing Cousins: Incest and Sex Change in Tristan de Nanteuil
In this paper I re-examine Blanchandine‘s sex change in light of its relation to the issue of incest; as I will show, incest is directly related to the sex change and also punctuates the narrative at other points. Tristan de Nanteuil depicts two sexual and/or romantic relationships between cousins…
The Physicality of Service in German Ideas of Knighthood, c.1200-1500
Jörg’s memoir is a particularly informative example of how one knight understood his own calling to knighthood and his practice of it. The medieval knight had a voice, and although precious few memoirs like Jörg’s exist, knightly perspectives inform a considerable breadth of primary materials.