Medieval Christianity Was More Connected Than You Think: The Ethiopian Monk’s Story
One Ethiopian monk’s bold attempt to reshape his church’s hierarchy offers a striking example of how Christian communities across the medieval world were deeply interconnected.
New Medieval Books: Translating Faith
At the close of the Middle Ages, a community of Ethiopian pilgrims settled in Rome. This book explores the records maintained by these Ethiopian Christians, shedding light on their way of life and their interactions with the Roman Catholic Church in the sixteenth century.
New book about medieval Ethiopia can be downloaded for free
The just-released book ‘Ethiopia’ and the World, 330–1500 CE, by Yonatan Binyam and Verena Krebs is available for free download until May 28th.
Medieval Holy Wars
Holy wars have come in all sizes and shapes, but overall they have fallen into four categories: ritual holy wars; holy wars of conquest and conversion; defensive holy wars; and millenarian holy wars.
Ethiopian Medieval History: Between Connection and Isolation
It is therefore necessary to look at the history of Ethiopia for from the point of view of the medievalist today in the work on Ethiopia the richest results come from those who open up the approaches based on a global history which considers for example the Christianization and Islamization of Ethiopia in equal parts and who envision this phenomenon not as a competitors, but as co-existing phenomena.
Ethiopia and Europe in the Middle Ages, with Verena Krebs
Among the most powerful kingdoms in the medieval period was Solomonic Ethiopia, a Christian kingdom that sought out contact with Western Europe in the Late Middle Ages. This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Verena Krebs about contact between Solomonic Ethiopia and Western Europe, how historians have misconstrued Ethiopian interests in the past, and what we can learn when we dig into primary sources.
Research reveals diverse diet in medieval Ethiopian communities
Early Muslim communities in Africa ate a cosmopolitan diet as the region became a trading centre for luxury goods, the discovery of thousands of medieval animal bones has shown.
The Ethiopian Age of Exploration: Prester John’s Discovery of Europe, 1306-1458
This article examines the dynamics of interaction between Italian elites and Ethiopian travelers throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
How to touch, smell and taste a ‘deconstructed’ medieval manuscript
A unique opportunity to experience a medieval manuscript as a sensory experience is currently taking place at the University of Leicester.
The Global Side of Medieval at the Getty Centre: Traversing the Globe Through Illuminated Manuscripts
Los Angeles correspondent, Danielle Trynoski takes through the, ‘Traversing the Globe Through Illuminated Manuscripts’ exhibut at the Getty Museum.
The search for Prester John, a projected crusade and the eroding prestige of Ethiopian kings, c.1200–c.1540
The myth of Prester John, a priest-king of phenomenal wealth and power somewhere in the East, was a popular theme in medieval writings and had remarkable staying power.
Emperor Zar’a Ya’eqob (1434-68) And The Christianization Of Medieval Ethiopia
One of the most important figures in Ethiopian Christianity was the 15th century Emperor Zar’a Ya’eqob.
Western relation with Ethiopia during the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period
By Hailu Kifle-Egzi
Conversion and Empire: Byzantine Missionaries, Foreign Rulers, and Christian Narratives (ca. 300-900)
For a broader modern audience today, if taken somewhat journalistically, Pusicius’ story is an example that cuts along cultural and religious lines that presumably originate in ancient, political divisions and confirm a “clash of civilizations” thesis.
The Indigenous Christians of the Arabic Middle East in an Age of Crusaders, Mongols, and Mamlūks (1244-1366)
The chronological period of study is highlighted by the usurpation of the Ayyūbid-ruled Sultanate by the Baḥrī Mamlūks, while the two most important political-military events in the region were the collapse of the Crusader States and the invasion of the Mongols. This thesis will examine how events impacted on the nine Christian Confessions, treating each separately.
The Black in Medieval Science: What Significance?
How, for example, did an artist produce the staggeringly realistic portrait of a negro warrior in the mid 13th century on the cathedral at Magdeburg, and what ideas lay behind this?
The Quest for Prester John
The legend of Prester John is one of the most fascinating and powerful myths of all time. To say that Medieval Europeans knew little about the world outside of their native continent is truly an understatement. It was an age in which much was assumed rather than ascertained about the exotic lands beyond.
Beleaguered Muslim fortresses and Ethiopian imperial expansion from the 13th to the 16th century
This thesis challenges this common conception by demonstrating that throughout Ethiopia’s medieval period (1270-1555), the time of greatest conflict between the Ethiopian Empire and its Muslim neighbors, Muslim forces did not besiege the Ethiopian Empire.
