The Demon’s Knight and the Unforgiving Bishop
The 12th-century writer Walter Map pushes the limits of this struggle between justice and forgiveness in the story of a knight who pledges himself to a demon, and the bishop who couldn’t forgive.
Medieval Wisdom for 2020
After a hardship, exhausted people often find good fortune overflowing. Hope in unfavourable situations is the most important road to recovery.
The Year 1000 with Valerie Hansen
This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Dr. Valerie Hansen to get a global perspective on the Middle Ages at the turn of the millennium, including how cultures were connecting in the year 1000, what goods people were trading, and just how far the trade routes went.
The Middle Ages in Penguin Classics: 10 Famous Books
We introduce you to ten of most the famous medieval books from the Penguin Classics series.
Medieval movies set in North America
We have movies of the Vikings in North America, films of Hiawatha, and a remarkable film of Inuit culture.
The Sheriff Solution: Medieval Law Enforcement for a Modern World
The Metropolitan Police Service – the first modern police force – was only created in London in 1829. So what were the structures in place for keeping order before that?
Medieval Graffiti with Matthew Champion
This week’s episode of The Medieval Podcast is about one of the places where art and memory, serious messages and playful doodles intersect: graffiti.
Fatness and Thinness in the Middle Ages
What did medieval people, living in a preindustrial time of food scarcity, think about fatness and thinness?
How to get good horses in medieval China
During the Northern Song period, the best regions for horse breeding had been snapped up by powerful steppe empires. So the Chinese state had to turn to other means to obtain good horses, coming up with a variety of innovative and ambitious schemes in the process.
The Hundred Years’ War Revisited: English Blunders in the 14th century
So how was it that after this seemingly total victory could England let the initiative slip through its fingers?
Medieval Scandinavia: Power Dynamics in the Viking Age
In the first article on a series about the rise of kingdoms in medieval Scandinavia, Beñat Elortza Larrea examines the society and power dynamics found in the Viking Age.
Medieval Reads: Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
The 1992 science fiction gold standard for medieval history is, then, actually the gold standard for understanding how the North American centred science fiction world understood medieval history in that decade.
Mamluks vs Crusaders
This column will focus on the wars between the Mamluks and the Crusaders / Franks in the Near East. It was a struggle that began in the thirteenth century and would last until the end of the Middle Ages.
A Medieval Story of Redemption
From nun to noble to prostitute to beggar – the story of Beatrice.
Reflections on Racism in Medieval Studies
This week on The Medieval Podcast – We know for a fact that the medieval world was diverse, we know for a fact that civilizations outside of the major European nations were interesting, but at the moment, Medieval Studies is still a very white field. So why does this matter, especially in the current moment? Because black history matters. Black scholarship matters. And black lives matter.
Medieval Manuscripts: Gradual of Gisela von Kerssenbrock
Only a few women in history devoted their lives to writing and illuminating manuscripts. Gisela von Kerssenbrock, a nun living in a remote village of 14th-century Germany, was one of them.
The Bastille is Being Stormed
Though the French Revolution is most definitely postmedieval—and unrivalled for the apathy many of my undergraduates have shown towards it—never has the fall of the French feudal regime been more relevant to current events.
What to get for a medieval baby shower
As any parent who’s ever tried to travel with a baby will know, babies require a fair bit of stuff to keep them safe, happy, and comfortable.
New Medieval Books: Historical Fiction in 2020
Taking a look at what’s new this year with historical fiction set in the Middle Ages. Here are seven (plus one) novels for medievalists.
A Tang dynasty monk and his secret candy recipe
A new column by Elizabeth Smithrosser will be looking at China in the Middle Ages. In her first post she looks at a very tasty treat dating back to the Tang dynasty.
Who were the peasants in the Middle Ages?
Our new columnist Lucie Laumonier explains the four common characteristics of what is a peasant in the Middle Ages.
Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages: What, Where, When
Alice Isabella Sullivan is a new columnist at Medievalists.net, working on Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages. In her first post, she aims to define what Eastern Europe actually is.
The Hundred Years’ War Revisited: The Medieval ‘World War’
How the Hundred Years’ War became a kind of world war involving nearly every major power in Latin Christendom.
In Search of the Promised Land: Saint Brendan’s Voyage
The story of an Irish monk and his fourteen companions who embarked on a dangerous journey in the fifth century.