Quiz: Medieval Kingdoms
How well do you know your kingdoms from the Middle Ages? Try these 10 questions!
Eloping Lovers and A Werewolf: The Romance of Guillaume de Palerne
In addition to being a story celebrating courtly love and all the romance tropes, Guillaume de Palerne is essentially a story of transformation and disguise
Medieval Marriage with Ruth Mazo Karras
Episode 7 of The Medieval Podcast – What was marriage in the Middle Ages really like? Danièle is joined by Ruth Mazo Karras to discuss love, weddings and partnerships in medieval society.
“Fiction Piled on Fiction”: The Uses and Abuses of King Arthur
Here we are in 2019 still discussing the possibility of an historical King Arthur. How and why that is the case is a fascinating story told expertly by the historian Nicholas J. Higham in King Arthur: The Making of a Legend,
How to be a Holy Man and a Pragmatist: The story of Hybald
Any type of leader will often have to balance their convictions with pragmatism. For a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon abbot, perhaps there could be a way to display both.
Medieval Reads: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
Once in a generation, a writer comes along and, in making fun of his generation and in creating fun using the Middle Ages brings together a new set of stories for people to tell. This is what Mark Twain did in 1889.
Medieval Geopolitics: The Northern Crusades as a “Penitential War”
In this column, I look at the next phase in history of the Northern Crusades: that of “penitential war.”
The Mongols in Europe: The Byzantines, the Bulgarians and the Golden Horde
How did the Mongol presence in the Balkans effect its two main political powers – the Byzantines and the Bulgarians?
500 Years after the First Voyage around the World: Secrets of the Atlas Miller
This is the secret of the Atlas Miller: it tries to counter the idea that the world could be circumnavigated.
The History Channel’s Knight Fight: How Historically Accurate is it?
Taking a look at the History Channel’s newest ‘medieval’ show Knight Fight.
Can you solve these Byzantine riddles?
Here are five riddles written in the eleventh-century. Can you answer them?
The child by the seaside: a medieval story about Saint Augustine
While Augustine was working on his book On the Trinity, he was walking by the seaside one day, meditating on the difficult problem of how God could be three Persons at once. He came upon a little child.
What was farming like in medieval Iceland?
How did Icelanders build and run farms in the Middle Ages?
Juggling the Middle Ages with Jan Ziolkowski
Episode 6 of The Medieval Podcast – Danièle is joined by Jan Ziolkowski to talk about the ‘Juggling the Middle Ages’ exhibition at Dumbarton Oaks.
Medieval Geopolitics: What were the Northern Crusades?
I am going to sketch a very brief history of the so-called “Northern Crusades” – that is, the crusades undertaken by the Christian kings of Denmark, Poland and Sweden, the various German military orders, and their allies against the pagan peoples of the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea.
Elen More: The Moorish Lass in James IV’s Court
It won’t take you long to spot an ‘Elen More’ among the courtiers of King James IV. Or the ‘Moorish Lass’, as they dubbed her.
Which Chaucer Character are You?
Are you one of the members of the Canterbury Tales, or perhaps the famous author himself? Answer these questions to find out!
The nun with blue teeth: a medieval mystery
Episode 5 of The Medieval Podcast – Researchers examining the remains of a medieval nun in Germany have discovered the mineral Lapus Lazuli in her teeth.
Under the Polar Sky: A ‘Dark’ Conference in a Dark Place
Darkness is where the light ends but the imagination begins.
Medieval Geopolitics: The Crusades to the Holy Land, Phase Three
The third phase of crusading in the Holy Land – that of its “maturity” – began with the expiration of Frederick’s truce in 1239 and ended with the fall of the last remnant of Outremer, the city of Acre, in 1291.
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.