Medieval Advice for Students Away From Home
By Danièle Cybulskie Over the last few weeks, countless parents have kissed their sons and daughters and sent them off to study away…
Fighting to Win: The Art of Sword Combat in The Early Modern Period
By Danièle Cybulskie Usually, writing about the Early Modern Age isn’t my deal, but it was definitely an interesting time. This was the…
Did Henry VIII Suffer from Head Trauma?
How did the champion of the church become the killer of queens? Researchers from the Yale School of Medicine think it may have been traumatic head injury.
How to Make Medieval Artists’ Tools
An amazingly detailed how-to manual from the fifteenth century is Cennino Cennini’s Il Libro Dell’arte, an instruction manual for artists that details both how to become a great artist, and how to make and use the tools of the trade.
Did Medieval People Believe in King Arthur?
By Danièle Cybulskie If you’ve ever had your doubts that King Arthur was a real, living, breathing human being at some point, you’re…
Medieval Mysteries: Miscellanies and Mix Tapes
By Danièle Cybulskie In thinking this week about the medieval mysteries we’ll never solve, it struck me that one of the most fun…
Book Review: Assassin’s Creed: Trial by Fire
By Danièle Cybulskie Assassin’s Creed: Trial by Fire, a compilation of the first five comic books in the new Assassin’s Creed series, comes…
Christine the Astonishing
Christine’s life is one of the most fascinating holy stories I’ve read
The Fantastical Shoemaker and the Head of Death
This twisted tale comes from Walter Map’s twelfth-century miscellany De Nugis Curialium or Courtiers’ Trifles
The Poetry of Trauma: On the Crécy Dead
By Danièle Cybulskie Time and again, I’ve heard medieval knights referred to as “killing machines”, bred for a lifetime of battle and destruction.…
Epistolae: Letters of Medieval Women
Like a lot of historians, I’m hugely interested in reading primary sources – the words of medieval people themselves – but it can often be difficult to find them. Lucky for us, Dr. Joan Ferrante and her team have made a website that features letters to and from medieval women, all translated into English, all for free.
The Ideal Medieval Hospital: St. John of Jerusalem
Let’s take five minutes to look at what may be the most famous hospital of the Middle Ages: The Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem
Following the Leader: Erik Kwakkel on How and Why to Be an Online Medievalist
One of the best presentations I saw at the International Congress on Medieval Studies this year was by Erik Kwakkel from Leiden University.
Grief and Spiritual Crisis in the Middle Ages
Existential crises and questions of faith in times of hardship are not modern phenomena. Medieval people routinely questioned their faith, most poignantly when it came to death.
When Bread Grew on Trees
Medieval people ate a lot of bread. A lot. They ate pounds of bread every day, and even used it as plates – or trenchers – which sounds both practical and delicious (although trencher bread was usually stale).
Royalit: What Did Medieval Kings Read?
We know that medieval kings and queens did read. The question of the day is: what did they read?
The Ruin: The Past Dreaming of the Past
Besides being chillingly beautiful, this is one of those fantastic moments for literature scholars in which, by describing what life might have been like in a former time, the poet reveals something of his own age: what people of his time thought glory days should be like.
Five Favourite Middle English Romances
My favourite old language is Middle English, with all its quirks and funny letters, so I thought I’d take the time to share five of my favourite Middle English romances with you.
Medieval Falconry: Birds and Lovebirds
The 5MinMedievalist talks to us about the popular medieval sport of falconry!
BOOK REVIEW: Who is the Historian? by Nigel A. Raab
Danièle Cybulskie, @5MinMedievalist, gives a review of Nigel A. Raab’s latest book, ‘Who is the Historian’.
Medieval Eyeglasses: Wearable Technology of the Thirteenth Century
It’s a common misconception that medieval minds regarded every little gadget with superstition and fear. Like us, medieval people loved wearable tech, and adapted useful gear – like sundials – to take with them on the go. In the thirteenth-century, Europeans were keen to get on board with the latest high-tech gadget to come out of Italy: eyeglasses.
Infertility in the Middle Ages
For medieval people, success meant succession. Heredity was at the centre of law and order, from the king down through the ranks of society. As a result, the moment children reached marriageable age – and sometimes even before that – everyone’s focus was on their fertility.
5 Surprising Rules for Medieval Monks
The Rule of Saint Benedict was one of the quintessential texts of the Middle Ages. It explicitly lays out how to effectively run and be a part of the ideal monastic community – at least in Benedict’s view.
Margery and John Paston: Fifteenth-Century Valentines
As we celebrate the day dedicated to love letters, it seems appropriate to share a Valentine’s Day story from one of the most famous letter-writing families of the Middle Ages: the Pastons.