Where the Middle Ages Begin
Discover 517 real Viking nicknames from the sagas, including bold, funny, and bizarre names like “Butter Penis” and “Fairhair.” Explore what these names reveal about Norse culture and identity.
What everyday objects did people use in the Middle Ages? From clothing and household necessities to tools for work and warfare, these 25 medieval items were essential to daily life and shaped how people lived, ate, and survived.
Delve into the pivotal figures of the Middle Ages whose enduring legacies shaped the course of history. From visionary leaders and profound scholars to prolific writers and formidable warriors, these individuals left an indelible mark on medieval society.
Discover the 50 most significant events of the Middle Ages, spanning the years 500 to 1500.
Here are seven vivid facts about colour in the Middle Ages
In medieval times, many unique jobs, such as Ale-wife and Groom of the Stool, were essential but have since vanished. Discover these obsolete occupations and how historical changes led to their disappearance.
Are you wanting to talk more like someone from the Middle Ages? We have a list of 30 great sayings and proverbs that you can use in your conversations.
Have you wondered what a medieval king did on a typical day? Thanks to Christine de Pizan, we have an account of what daily life was like for King Charles V of France.
Some of our most popular phrases have a long history, including some that go back to the Middle Ages.
Want to know what kind of jobs there were in the Middle Ages? A unique source from the 15th century gives us some beautiful images of medieval people at work.
A priest murdered in 14th-century London. A noblewoman’s vendetta. Cambridge’s Medieval Murder Maps reveals a tangled tale of adultery, public penance, and revenge near St Paul’s Cathedral.
This book offers an introduction to the Icelandic sagas, detailing various aspects of the genre. It then provides mini-descriptions of 40 sagas, explaining their content, dating, and transmission.
New research uncovers a hidden network of female spies and messengers in medieval Ypres, revealing how women played a crucial role in wartime intelligence during the Flemish revolt against Maximilian of Austria.
The Crusades enjoyed widespread support in Western Europe, and efforts on the home front were focused on mobilizing fighters for the Holy Land. This book explores the role of women in England in encouraging men to take up the Cross.
Discover the forgotten story behind the Middle English Dictionary and the scholar who started it all—Ewald Flügel, a German philologist whose ambitious vision helped shape Middle English studies.
This week, Danièle speaks with Michael Staunton about Thomas’ rapid rise to the highest positions in England, his epic feud with Henry II – including what part Henry might have played in Thomas’ martyrdom – and the aftermath of the infamous murder in the cathedral.
Discover the surprising history of medieval vegetables—from carrots and peas to artichokes and cabbages—and how they were grown, eaten, and understood in the Middle Ages.
The British Library has acquired five rare medieval manuscripts from Longleat House, offering new insights into Jewish-Christian relations, civic life, theology, and devotion in the Middle Ages.
Explore how war was understood in the Middle Ages through the ideas of Augustine and Aquinas, including just war theory, public vs. private violence, and the role of sin and political authority.
Situated in the Indian Ocean, the Maldives played a key role in medieval trade networks. This book explores Chinese engagement with the islands, focusing on a two-century period during which they became an important outpost for China’s expanding maritime influence.
Medieval healers saw nettles as more than a painful weed. New research uncovers how they used the stinging plant in remedies for wounds, infections, and more.
A new book by Sarah Bowden explores how sin and penance inspired literary creativity in medieval Germany, offering fresh insights into devotional writing and the development of the German language.
Archaeologists have uncovered the intact base of a 6th-century Byzantine bucket at Sutton Hoo—revealing it was used as a cremation vessel in an early Anglo-Saxon burial, complete with human remains and grave goods.
What’s new in medieval studies? Here are ten open-access articles published in May, which range from female spies to sea voyages.
Between 622 and 632, the early Muslim community became involved in a series of military conflicts with rival Arabian groups and the Byzantine Empire. This book examines the military history of these encounters, “emphasizing them as a series of tribal incursions rather than religious missions.”
From Crusader strongholds to Silk Road capitals, discover 10 cities that fell from greatness during the Middle Ages, lost to time, disaster, and war.
Explore the development of land warfare from 1000 to 1300. From the Eurasian Steppe to the Middle East and the kingdom of England, this course offers a sweeping panorama of military history during a crucial period in global history.
Medieval people were interested in accessing secret knowledge like magic, divination and astrology. This book examines over 20 works from the period that deals with these topics, revealing what they say (and what they show) about these topics.
A new discovery is shedding light on the Isle of Man’s rich Viking heritage. A rare piece of Viking gold jewellery, unearthed earlier this year, has officially been declared treasure by the Isle of Man’s Deputy Coroner of Inquests.
New research reveals that Mongolia’s medieval wall systems served not only defensive purposes but also regulated trade, movement, and daily life on the frontier.
Winston Berg is a political scientist who studies modern American conspiracy theories about politics and the deep state; his dissertation studied the movement known as QAnon. Given our political moment, I thought it would be interesting to discuss with him the different contours and valences that conspiracy theories and deep state notions took in the east Roman polity and in the United States.
A rare medieval tower in Scotland has reopened to visitors after undergoing masonry inspections to ensure its stability. Orchardton Tower, a 15th-century structure located in the Dumfries and Galloway region, is now welcoming guests once more, offering a glimpse into noble life during the later Middle Ages.
In a tale preserved from the 10th century, a man from Cairo sets out in search of treasure hidden deep in the mountains.…
Explore daily life inside a medieval home, from kitchens and chambers to workshops and power dynamics, based on records from late medieval York.
As the Poles, Czechs, and Hungarians established their medieval states, they became deeply entangled with the Holy Roman Empire and other Western European powers. This book explores the complex politics and state-building processes of Central Europe, a region marked by both cooperation and conflict.
A conversation with Alasdair Grant about the captivity and enslavement that many Greeks (Romaioi) experienced in the late medieval period, a period of state collapse during which they were subject to Italian and Turkish raids and attacks.
This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Núria Silleras-Fernández about what grief and widowhood were “supposed” to look like, how grief and madness were thought to be intertwined with love, and how the grieving women in the famous Isabella the Catholic’s family shaped the history of Spain and Portugal.
This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Garry Shaw about who was encrypting their manuscripts, the codes they used, and the centuries of attempts to crack the Voynich Manuscript.
A conversation with Ioanna Sitaridou about a Greek language (Romeyka) still spoken in northwestern Turkey, though now endangered, whose grammar retains interesting archaic features.
This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Eric White about Johannes Gutenberg’s life, his early entrepreneurship, and the invention that changed the world.
This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Ada Palmer about Petrarch, Machiavelli, atheism, and how we should look at the period formerly known as the Renaissance.
