Justinian’s Reconquest: Notions of Return in Procopius’ Gothic Wars
Though the native Italians play a relatively minor role in the Gothic Wars, the essay will suggest, that in Procopius’ mind, the Western Romans’ ‘decision’ to forego their martial roles for less martial forms of male self-fashioning in the fifth century had led, not only to the rise of the ‘barbarian’ Vandals and the Goths, but had separated the Italians from an essential component of Romanitas—masculine martial virtues.
Anglo-Saxon Portraits: King Raedwald
In less than ten days the team unearthed Britain’s richest ever grave – 263 objects of gold, silver, bronze, iron, gems, leather, wood, textiles, feathers and fur, laid out in a wooden chamber at the centre of a buried ship. It was a sensation that attracted a police guard and an article in the Illustrated London News.
Understanding Grettir as an Ethical Hero: Comparing Havamal and Grettir’s Saga
The Icelandic family sagas are replete with heroes, fighting men and strong women who stood with their teeth to the wind and carved a life for themselves out of an inhospitable world
Two Lost Libraries in London
Medieval libraries in England were assembled in many places and for different purposes.
CFP: 41st Annual Sewanee Medieval Colloquium
This colloquium will explore peace and war in medieval culture, history, literature, philosophy, theology, and the arts. How did medieval men and women make peace and make war?
Ten Strange Medieval Ideas about Animals
Vipers killing each, panthers and their sweet breath, and how deer cure themselves of illness – the medieval bestiary and strange ideas about animals.
Berengaria of Navarre, Queen of England
Of the many princesses available as a bride for Richard the Lionheart, King of England, Berengaria of Navarre was chosen to be his queen.
What Kind of Ninja Would You Have Been?
The Ninja had many roles in their clans: some were unarmed experts, while others used a particular weapon. Some were intelligence gatherers, and others war strategists. Still, others were Kunoichi–female ninja! Only one was the grandmaster! This test will reveal what role you might have fulfilled in an ancient clan!
BOOK REVIEW: Plague Land by SD Sykes
My review of SD Sykes brilliant medieval thriller, Plague Land.
Why is this 2011 article on Viking Women now getting mainstream media attention?
Three years ago, Shane McLeod’s article on ‘Warriors and women: the sex ratio of Norse migrants to eastern England up to 900 AD’ was published in the journal Early Medieval Europe. This week, the details of this article are now making headlines on media all across the world.
Using LEGO to teach the Middle Ages
Here are a few ideas that teachers can use to teach the Middle Ages with LEGO
Silk Tunics of Saint Ambrose to be restored and studied
Archaeologists from the University of Bonn, working with restorers, are preserving and studying 4th-century tunics ascribed to St. Ambrose. In the course of examining these valuable silk garments, they have made surprising scholarly discoveries regarding the development of early relic worship.
The Illnesses of King Richard and King Philippe on the Third Crusade
For weeks both Richard and Philippe were close to the brink of death, before they finally recovered.
Guilt and Creativity in the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer
I argue that as Chaucer develops his own expansive, questioning poetics in The House of Fame and The Canterbury Tales, he problematises the principle of allegory on which the legitimacy of literary discourse was primarily based in medieval culture and the final fragments of The Canterbury Tales see Chaucer struggling, increasingly, to reconcile the boldness and independence of his poetic vision with the demands of his faith.
Medieval Perspectives: Jean de Waurin and His Perception of the Turks in Anatolia in the Late Middle Ages
This paper discusses the reasons Wavrin wrote his account of the crusade of Varna and Walerin de Wavrin’s expedition into the Balkans, which was later published within his history of Britain and how he perceived and accordingly presented the Turks to the renaissance readers.
A British legion stationed near Orléans c. 530?
Several recent books lead the reader to believe that Vita sancti Dalmatii, written in c. 800, records a legio Britannica (a British army) stationed near Orléans in c. 530.
Teaching Out of the Box: Creating a Lesson about the Black Death
A team of teachers is challenged to produce an imaginative and exciting lesson on medieval history inspired by objects given to them in a box.
Gambling and Gaming in the Holy Land: Chess, Dice and Other Games in the Sources of the Crusades
The article demonstrates that, for the Latin chroniclers, the most serious problem of gambling in the context of the crusades was its tendency to distract from the war effort.
Christianity and the Latin tradition in early Medieval Ireland
The Christianity which arrived in Ireland with the fifth-century missionaries was more than just a literate religion; it was very much a religion of the book.
Real and imaginary journeys in the later Middle Ages
For a proper understanding of the actions of men in the past it is necessary to have some idea of how they conceived the world and their place in it, yet for the medieval period there is a serious inbalance in the sources.
The Bayeux Tapestry: The Case of the Phantom Fleet
There is a large bibliography of secondary works concerning the Bayeux Tapestry, but when one reads much of the published material it is clear that a high proportion of this comment, as one would expect, copies and builds on previous authors.
Why does Saladin have such good PR in the Medieval West?
The story of Hattin and the Third Crusade is a very good read and it features a splendid duel, indeed almost a tournament, pitting Saladin against Richard the Lionheart. And to this exciting mixture is added a dash of sex
Anglo-Saxon smiths and myths
Knowledge of the metalworking and jewellery-making abilities of the Anglo-Saxons has been much enhanced in recent years by metallurgical and other technical studies.
Archaeology, common rights and the origins of Anglo-Saxon identity
It is generally accepted that rights over land, especially rights of pasture, played a formative role in establishing the identity of early Anglo-Saxon ‘folk groups’, the predecessors of the middle Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.