‘Décapitation’ by Femme No. 5 – get your own Tudor-inspired perfume at York
Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII who was said to have had an illicit liaison during her visit to York in 1541, is the inspiration of a new perfume now available at Barley Hall in York as part of its ‘Power & Glory: York in the Time of Henry VIII’ exhibition.
Motte and Bailey Castle for Sale in Wales
Own your own piece of Welsh history with your own Motte and Bailey Castle site in your garden with views over Lake Bala which comes with a superb farmhouse.
The Medieval Magazine – Issue 24
How Christianity Came to Europe / The Afterlife of the Dead / Minecraft and the Middle Ages
Reconstructing the past in medieval Iceland
This paper examines the relationship between the Sagas of Icelanders, which are concerned with tenth- and eleventh-century events, and the contemporary sagas of the mid-thirteenth century.
Genoa: The Cog in the New Medieval Economy
Journalist and author Nicholas Walton writes about medieval Genoa’s economy, trade and role in the Black Death. Walton recently published a book on Genoese history entitled, “Genoa: La Superba”
5 Fun Facts About Robin Hood
Robin Hood has enthralled generations of readers and movie goers. This English outlaw-hero has become of symbol of freedom against tyranny, stealing from the rich to give to the poor. But who was Robin Hood? How much is grounded in myth and how much is reality?
Between Subjects and Citizens: the Commons of England, c. 1300-1550
The political, social and cultural conditions of later medieval England fostered a situation in which ordinary people could have remarkable political agency.
Touching the Past: The Hand and the Medieval Book
Touching the Past: The Hand and the Medieval Book invites visitors to get in touch. Well, not literally since we’re discussing medieval manuscripts, but the exhibition wants viewers to consider the tactile side of books and manuscripts
Ten Castles that Made Medieval Britain: Bamburgh Castle
Windswept and interesting, the spectacle of the venerable old man of Northumbria, Bamburgh Castle, cannot help but stoke the imagination.
The Politics of the Gate: Byzantine City Walls and the Urban Negotiation of Imperial Authority
From its violent birth as the surviving portion of a civilization engulfed by invaders to its violent death as a lone city overwhelmed by irresistible assault, the Byzantine Empire was a state walled against perpetual siege.
Localizing the Holy Land: The Visual Culture of Crusade in England, circa 1140-1307
Analyzing diverse visual material, from images of the military orders on seals, and monastic maps of Palestine in manuscripts, to royal chambers with paintings of holy warfare and the display of Holy Land relics at court, my project juxtaposes sacred and secular commissions made for crusaders and affiliates of chivalric culture.
The Arrow of Sherwood by Lauren Johnson
My book review of Robin Hood tale, Arrow of Sherwood by Lauren Johnson.
The Evil Spirit that Terrorized a Medieval Village
Today’s horror movies could make use of this story from the ninth-century, of how an evil spirit terrorized a village, and the attempt to get rid of it, which seems to be one of the earliest recorded exorcisms from the Middle Ages.
How to destroy gods
In the year 1168 a Danish bishop destroyed three pagan gods. The story is told in Gesta Danorum, by Saxo Grammaticus, which has recently been entirely translated into English for the first time.
The Scale of Slave Raiding and the Slave Trade in Northumbria and Ireland, 7th-11th Centuries
Slave raiding and the slave trade in early medieval Northumbria and Ireland were transcultural and inter-regional processes, involving the enslavement and transportation of people across permeable borders.
Broaching the subject: the geometry of Anglo-Saxon composite brooches
The glittering and gleaming artifacts that can be found in Anglo-Saxon archaeological sites capture the imagination, conjuring up images of a warrior culture that displayed its wealth through wearable objects.
The Rewriting of History in Amin Maalouf’s The Crusades Through Arab Eyes
I argue that while Maalouf brilliantly deconstructs the Western image of the Crusades as a heroic time by documenting the barbarity of the Crusaders without falling into the pitfall of simply inverting the terms of the dichotomy, the agenda driving his rewriting of this historical period leads him to partially repeat what his book is supposed to undo
The Knights of the Front: Medieval History’s Influence on Great War Propaganda
The article makes the argument that the realities of the First World War shattered the chivalrous and romantic ideals of war so completely that the concepts and images were no longer appropriate for use as propaganda.
The Priest and the Fox: Tricksters in Chaucer’s Nun’s Priest’s Tale
Although the figure of Reynard is prevalent in trickster lore, the primary trickster at play in the Nun’s Priest’s Tale may be not the fox but the teller of the tale, the Nun’s Priest himself who travels the road to Canterbury.
Movie Review: Tristan and Isolde
As far as medieval movies go, Tristan and Isolde definitely isn’t the worst I’ve seen. I was looking for a movie to watch after work, and I thought, hey, James Franco, Sophia Moyles, Henry Cavill, and Rufus Sewell, all directed by Ridley Scott?! – this can’t be that bad. Well, it was pretty bad, but it wasn’t the worst 2 hours of my life. So what went wrong?
What is a Psalter?
Because they didn’t contain the entire Bible, psalters were nice and portable, making good girdle books for the devout – or those concerned with showing off – to carry with them.
Landlord of England, not King? Reinterpreting the Reign of Richard II
Mark King is a PhD student in the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge working on the political history of Richard II’s reign.
Medieval Treasures from the Digital.Bodleian
Last month, the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford officially launched their Digital.Bodleian online resource, which allows users to view, download and share over 100,000 images going back to the Middle Ages.
Veronica Franco and the ‘Cortigiane Oneste’: Attaining Power through Prostitution in Sixteenth-Century Venice
Franco was a published author, a poet, and counted the King of France among her lovers.
Why did they stop building tower house castles in Ireland?
One of the most visible reminders of Ireland’s medieval history are the tower house castles that are scattered throughout the country. For centuries they were the homes and fortresses for the native Irish elites as well as the English and Scottish settlers. However, by the early seventeenth-century it seems that they were now being abandoned and left the fall into ruin. What happened?