The Borderlands of Slavery in Medieval Mediterranean France
Daniel Lord Smail examines slavery in medieval France.
Parenting Tips from a Tang Dynasty General
What was it like to have this famous general as a father?
Plagues and Faiths, Past and Present
As the Bubonic Plague made its way westward from China in the 14th century, Christians, Muslims, and Jews in its path thought anxiously about what practices of public health and of piety might save them.
The Sheriff Solution: Medieval Law Enforcement for a Modern World
The Metropolitan Police Service – the first modern police force – was only created in London in 1829. So what were the structures in place for keeping order before that?
Fatness and Thinness in the Middle Ages
What did medieval people, living in a preindustrial time of food scarcity, think about fatness and thinness?
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.
The contours of disease and hunger in Carolingian and early Ottonian Europe (c.750-c.950 CE)
This thesis is the first systematic examination of the textual and material evidence for disease and hunger in Carolingian and early Ottonian Europe, c.750 to c.950 CE
Five Myths about Medieval Peasants
This week, Danièle takes on five common myths about medieval peasants.
The 1381 Rising in Bury St Edmunds: The Role of Leaders and the Community in Shaping the Rebellion
This article explores the relative role of leaders and communities within Bury St
Edmunds, a town in western Suffolk under the lordship of the Abbey of St Edmunds.
Getting Away with Adultery in the Middle Ages
Although adultery wasn’t sanctioned by the church, it made for some of medieval Europe’s most beloved stories, from romance to fabliaux.
Compassionate Capitalism in the Middle Ages: The property market in 13th century Cambridge
Property was a desirable asset in medieval Cambridge, much as it still is today. Two new books examine the records of over one thousand properties in the town, all detailed in the Hundred Rolls of 1279.
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.
Granum Bonum: Grain Distribution and the Emergence of Popular Institutions in Medieval Genoa
This dissertation is an exploration of Genoese institutionalism that demonstrates the way grain and grain distribution were intertwined with state debt and public spending in the exercise of political power in the medieval urban republic under the fourteenth-century government of Simone Boccanegra (r. 1339–1363) and his successors.
A Land Inheritance Dispute in Gozo in 1485
‘You thief, you son of a thief. We shall wipe you off the face of the earth!’
Coping with Pandemics in the Middle Ages
Medieval people differed from us in their ways of coping with a pandemic, but they felt similar helplessness.
Living and Loving in Sin: The Remarkable Relationships of Margaret de Gatesden
One exceptional case bears out not only that marriages might not last, but that separation can indeed lead to a happy ending.
Murder by Poison: A Crime from 15th century Valencia
In medieval Europe, arsenic was stocked as a matter of course along with other medicines. As with other medicines, the poisonous nature of arsenic is a matter of dosage and administration.
Five Medieval Tricks to Make You Luckier in Love
The Distaff Gospels is a fifteenth-century collection of pseudo-serious advice given by fictional women, and it covers a wide range of the topics we can’t seem to get enough of, love and lust included.
The Usefulness of the Pastons
I called this the usefulness of the Pastons and when I chose the title I was thinking primarily of the usefulness of their letters for historians and the light they shed on so many aspects of late medieval society and politics, and that’s my starting point today.
A Marriage in Medieval London: The Brother’s Tale
On January 15, 1472, in the case of Elizabeth Isaak versus John Bolde, the deposed witness was Elizabeth’s brother, Walter Isaak.
Filthy and indecent words: Insults, defamation, and urban politics in the southern Low Countries (1300-1550)
In 1527, the Bruges fishmonger Thomas Haghebaert shouted at the governors of his guild: ‘I will have nothing to do with you or the magistracy. I sh*t on you and on the aldermen and on all those who think they can harm me!’
‘Laugh, My Love, Laugh’: Mottos, Proverbs and Love Inscriptions on Late Medieval Bone Saddles
Fifteenth-century bone saddles form a particularly unique and special object group in medieval Central European history.
Vi et Armis: Londoners and Violent Trespass Before the Common Pleas in the Fifteenth Century
The Londoners who entered pleadings in this court between 1405 and 1415 have left a fascinating glimpse into both interpersonal violence and the world of savvy litigators.
Child death, grief, and the community in high and late Medieval England
Today, the heartbreaking news about child death, in most cases, is viewed as “unexpected” or “rare.” However, the medieval corpus reflects the grim reality that child death was common.