Summer in the Middle Ages
When air conditioning was not yet a thing – how people in the Middle Ages coped with the summer months.
Medieval potions and modern lotions
Could there also be some medical merit behind many of the seemingly bizarre ingredients?
Merchant Time, Church Time, COVID Time
As the pandemic comes rolling into its final phases, we need to ask the question: Will we ever use time in the same way again?
Vintage Fashion: Second-Hand Clothing in Medieval France
This article sheds light on the circulation of second-hand clothing in the southern French city of Montpellier and its immediate surroundings in the late medieval period, by looking at the sale of used clothing and donations of second-hand clothes.
Using Isotopic Analysis to Investigate Diet and Disease in a Medieval German Poorhouse
This paper presents a bioarchaeological case study on a medieval poorhouse skeletal collection from Regensburg, Germany.
Spring in the Middle Ages
How did medieval people perceive the arrival of Spring? How was Spring depicted in medieval calendars and literary texts? And, was Spring the “mating season” for humans, as it is for many animal species?
Travel in the Middle Ages, with John F. Romano
A common myth about the medieval period is that no one traveled anywhere, but stayed in the place they were born until they died. This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with John F. Romano to find out what travel was really like in the Middle Ages.
Medieval Beer with Noëlle Phillips
Beer: it’s delicious, it’s nutritious, and it’s inseparable from ideas of the Middle Ages. This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Dr. Noëlle Phillips about medieval beer: who was making it, who was drinking it, and how the brewing industry leans on the medieval world for its marketing today.
A Medieval Noblewoman’s Guide to Dressing Up
A look inside Eleanor de Montfort’s wardrobe, and why it was important for a 13th-century countess to dress extravagantly and beautifully.
What can ‘skeletal trauma’ tell us about the people of medieval Cambridge
University of Cambridge researchers examined the remains of 314 individuals dating from the 10th to the 14th century and collected evidence of “skeletal trauma”
A Medieval Peasants’ Winter
Coping with cold and snow, the medieval way.
Medieval hygiene
Everyone knows that medieval people were dirty, smelly and largely indifferent to their own filth – or were they? In fact, medieval physicians were well aware of the health benefits of good hygiene, and advice books told readers that keeping clean was the polite thing to do.
Medieval Stain Removal
What did medieval people do when they spilled wine on their best clothes?
Everyday Life in Medieval Ireland: Raths and Round Houses
Aidan O’Sullivan talks about everyday life in medieval Ireland and offers insights into the round house the Experimental Archaeology team built.
Uncovering the people who lived in medieval Ypres
Unique research into skeletons from the 13th century aims to determine health status, origin and lifestyle
The Five Senses of Sin
Have you seen anything that enticed you into sinning?
Sex in the Not-City: Bad Behavior in the Medieval English Village
Why was the policing of sexual relationships in these medieval communities thought to be necessary in the first place?
Norman Conquest of 1066 did little to change England’s eating habits
The story of the Norman Conquest of England has primarily been told from evidence of the elite classes of the time. But little has been known about how it affected everyday people’s lives.
Travel Expenses in the Middle Ages
Travelling for business, then as now, meant keeping careful track of your expenses, from what you ate, to who you schmoozed (and how), to what you did when your transportation broke down.
Fatness and Thinness in the Middle Ages
What did medieval people, living in a preindustrial time of food scarcity, think about fatness and thinness?
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.
Taking Care of Babies in the Middle Ages
When it comes to taking care of babies in the Middle Ages, this meant swaddling them and rocking them in cradles.
Touch in the Middle Ages
In these times, I want to bring out one thing that medieval people knew but we seem to have forgotten: Touch is necessary and fundamental.
The Medieval Invention of Toilet Paper
With toilet paper, or rather the sometimes frenzied demand for toilet paper, being in the news recently, it is a good time to look at the medieval origins of this very useful product.