New Medieval Books: From Walls to World War II
Taking you from from ninth century Ireland to 20th century Britain, with stops in China and Iceland.
The Wagenburg: How wagons became a medieval weapon of war
During the course of a century, medieval military commanders from Eastern Europe to India would make use of wagons as their key element in winning on the battlefield.
Gwerful Mechain and the Joy of (Medieval) Sex
For medieval Europeans, talking openly about sex in what we might think of now as explicit detail was a very normal part of life.
Mortgaging Medieval Children
Taking a look at the controversial decision to “mortgage” a young boy to the Venetians, and why children were used as political hostages in the Middle Ages.
The Winter Blues in the Middle Ages
Winter got you feeling down? You’re not alone. The long, dark nights of winter have always been the cause for a little doom and gloom, especially before the age of electric lights and electric blankets.
From Haggis to Oyster Stew: Medieval Recipes from Liber cure cocorum
Looking to get some culinary expertise from the Middle Ages? Try these four recipes from the fifteenth-century.
The Great Western Schism, Legitimacy, and Tyrannicide: The Murder of Louis of Orléans (1407)
I will argue that the use of this kind of vocabulary during the Schism may have facilitated a slip into the rhetoric of tyrannicide, and may have incited it. I will suggest that the climate and rhetori of the Schism may have led John the Fearless to rationalize tyrannicide against his cousin, Louis of Orléans.
The Crusades with Andrew Latham
Episode 4 of The Medieval Podcast – Danièle is joined by Andrew Latham to talk about the Crusades.
The Nightmare and the Accident: How King William Rufus died
If you had a terrible nightmare, would you see it as warning and try to change your ways?
How the borders of Scandinavia changed in the Middle Ages
Here are several videos that track the rise and fall of states in Scandinavia during the medieval period.
Medieval Geopolitics: The Crusades to the Holy Land, Phase Two
The history of the crusades from the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187 to the city’s restoration to the Crusader States in 1229.
An Invisible Landscape of Medieval Rome
I look to the period when the monastery was assembling its real estate portfolio to analyze how property documents inform us about the origins of this urban region, its social networks and its physical development.
The town, the duke, his courtiers and their tournament: A spectacle in Brussels, 4-7 May 1439
From 4 to 7 May 1439 a massive tournament (235 participants) was organized at the Grote Markt in Brussels, in which the Burgundian duke Philip the Good himself participated.
Technologies of appearance: Hair behaviour in early medieval Europe
I will outline the archaeological evidence for a concern with hair and grooming between the fifth and eleventh centuries AD
The Origin of the European Mediaeval Drama
The starting point of drama is religion. The root of the modern drama is based on the ritualistic resources of primitive religions.
Relics and Reliquaries: A Matter of Life and Death
A not unusual modern response to reliquaries is disgust–after all they often contain bones. To understand their presence, even their glorification, it must be admitted that the bones are not the ordinary subject of horror, rather as the bones of the blessed
$8.2 million gift for the study of medieval art at the University of Michigan
With this gift, the University of Michigan becomes one of only two schools in the United States with an endowed professorship in medieval art.
The Hundred Years’ War with David Green
Episode 3 of The Medieval Podcast – Taking a look into the Hundred Years’ War between England and France with David Green.
15th century carvings discovered at Scottish cathedral
Stone carvings which had lain hidden for centuries have been discovered at Dunkeld Cathedral in Scotland. At least a dozen carved saint-like figures were found by a conservation team from Historic Environment Scotland.
Virtual prototyping of medieval weapons for historical reconstruction of siege scenarios starting from topography and archaeological investigations
Therefore, the aim of this research is the development of methodologies for reconstructing virtual scenarios of sieges, starting from the scarce information available
Fairies and the Fairy World in Middle English Literature: the Orpheus Tradition from the Classical Era to the Middle Ages
I decided I wanted to know more about those “medieval fairies”: were there other Middle English poems where I could find them?
Arabic-speakers in Norman Sicily
On the arrival of the Normans around 1060, Arabic was the dominant language but by 1250 prestigious Romance vernaculars could be heard almost everywhere.
A Quest for the Black Knight: Casting People of Color in Arthurian Film and Television
Must actors of color be portrayed as the “Other” when (or if) given roles in films made in the West about the European Middle Ages?
Women and the Crusades
Did women support crusades? Did women go on crusades? If they did, did they fight?
