Environmental Scarcity and Abundance in Medieval Icelandic Literature
Can medieval literary texts tell us anything about the environmental conditions and the availability of natural resources in premodern times?
Visions in a Ninth-Century Village: an Early Medieval Microhistory
This article however suggests that an account of a ninth-century peasant’s vision can be read to recover a microhistory of a rural priest in northern Francia, and draws out the implications for how the local societies of the period might be viewed.
Augsburg Master Builders’ Ledgers now available online
The material offers incomparable insights into the medieval accounting practices in the City of Augsburg in the period 1320 to 1466.
Campaign begins to keep Viking hoard in Scotland
Campaigners are calling for one of the most spectacular Viking hoards ever discovered in Scotland to have its home near where it was found in Dumfries and Galloway.
Call for Editor/s: Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal
Seeking an editor or editorial team of two to three in related fields to edit Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal for a (renewable) three-year term beginning 1 December 2017.
“Now if this is your wish, I cannot blame you” – asking for a divorce in 1204
All day long I have a lonely heart and am pained by our separation. I feel that pain while writing these lines. But the choice is with you; the decision is in your hand: if you wish to carry the matter through, do so; if you wish to leave things as they are, do so.
New Medieval Books: From Ryukyu to Valhalla
This week’s five new books take you across the medieval world, exploring its sciences, myths and wars.
A Garden Enclosed, A Fountain Sealed Up: Paradoxical and Generative Metaphors of Enclosure in Medieval Female Anchoritism
The anchoritic life was a particular manifestation of the secluded or eremitical life.
Old Food was Never Better: Augmenting event authenticity at a medieval festival
Initially, an exploratory ethnographic study was conducted at a pre-festival medieval banquet to explore dimensions of food and beverage apparent in the literature. This informed a resultant survey which was administered at the festival tournament.
When St Andrews was the heart of medieval Scotland
Medieval St Andrews provides a pathway to an increased understanding of the medieval world.
Castle for Sale in New York
Looking for a medieval castle but want to stay in North America? Consider Highlands Castle, situated in the beautiful Adirondack Mountains of New York State.
He was murdered 1,400 years ago
Scottish researchers have reconstructed the face of a Pictish man they showed to have been brutally murdered 1,400 years ago.
Both “illness and temptation of the enemy”: melancholy, the medieval patient and the writings of King Duarte of Portugal (r. 1433–38)
Recent historians have rehabilitated King Duarte of Portugal, previously maligned and neglected, as an astute ruler and philosopher. There is still a tendency, however, to view Duarte as a depressive or a hypochondriac, due to his own description of his melancholy in his advice book, the Loyal Counselor.
Richard lll Book of Hours now online
Leicester Cathedral has digitised and published the personal prayer book of King Richard III.
Henry II and Ganelon
Henry II and Ganelon By Paul R. Hyams Syracuse Scholar, Vol.4:1 (1983) Introduction: Once upon a time, there was a king of Nantes, called…
The Soldier’s Life: Early Byzantine Masculinity and the Manliness of War
The Soldier’s Life: Early Byzantine Masculinity and the Manliness of War By Michael Stewart Byzantina Σymmeikta, Vol. 26 (2016) Introduction: The ancient Romans admired…
‘Better off dead than disfigured’? The challenges of facial injury in the premodern past
This paper argues that facial disfigurement has been neglected in the historiography of medieval Europe, and suggests some reasons for this oversight before examining the evidence from legal and narrative texts.
The geography of a cemetery – the early Christian cemeteries of Skagafjördur, North Iceland
In the last decade early Christian churches and cemeteries in the region of Skagafjördur, North Iceland, have been the object of extensive archaeological research.
Roman Singing and its Influence Across Europe
In this lecture we shall explore what the singing of Rome meant far afield: in northern England, Ireland, Spain and Germany.
Nothing Lovelier than Spring (Gardening) in 14th-century Paris
Wondering what to plant in your garden this year? Take some advice from an elderly gentleman living in a big city!
Six Science Questions – Answers from the Sixth Century
Even in the Early Middle Ages people were asking scientific questions about their world. Here are six of these questions, and the answers that were provided by a Byzantine philosopher in the year 531.
New Medieval Books: English Food to Japanese Demons
We will be beginning a new series here on Medievalists.net – letting our readers know about new books being published about the Middle Ages. From scholarly to fiction, we will tell you about five new medieval books each week.
Thoughts on the Role of Cavalry in Medieval Warfare
Thoughts on the Role of Cavalry in Medieval Warfare By Jack Gassmann Acta Periodica Duellatorum, Vol.2 (2014) Abstract: This article explores the role…
The Story of the Grail
The Story of the Grail has captivated people for hundreds of years. How is it that a story first written in the 12th century can still be so meaningful in the 21st?
The gargoyles of San Francisco : medievalist architecture in Northern California 1900-1940
This thesis examines the development from the novel perspective of medievalism—the study of the Middle Ages as an imaginative construct in western society after their actual demise.