Medieval Executions: The View from the Scaffold
Let’s take a brief look at what judicial execution was really like in the Middle Ages.
On the Mutilation and Blinding of Byzantine Emperors from the Reign of Heraclius I until the Fall of Constantinople
The article takes a diachronic approach to the questions regarding Byzantine emperors and pretenders who were blinded or mutilated.
Unravelling a medieval murder mystery
In the ultimate cold case an Aberdeen historian has re-examined a 600 year old murder, fitting of a plot for Game of Thrones.
Top 10 Most Brutal Medieval Deaths
When being broken on the wheel is not enough! Ten brutal ways to die from the Middle Ages.
Policing Violence: Royal and Community Perspectives in Medieval France
It is the purpose of this thesis to demonstrate that there were legitimate and acceptable forms of violence that could be used to police society.
Cross-Border Representations of Revolt in the Later Middle Ages: France and England During the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453)
Combing through more than eighty chronicles from the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century, we have only been able to find some fifteen examples of popular revolt in England and France being reported by authors from the other side of the channel.
Spousal Abuse in Fourteenth-Century Yorkshire
One area which historians of marriage have chosen to focus on in particular as a measure of love within marriage is spousal abuse. Two approaches have been employed in this respect.
Why Medieval Torture Devices are Not Medieval
When many people think about the Middle Ages they see it as a time when people were tortured by a wide collection of diabolical instruments. Whether it is the Pear of Anguish or the Iron Maiden, these torture devices are portrayed as medieval. The reality, however, is that many of these devices never existed in the Middle Ages.
Medieval violence and Criminology: using the Middle Ages to understand contemporary ‘motiveless’ crime
The aim of this essay is to explore how an investigation of violence in the Middle Ages can inform our understanding of ‘motiveless’ violence today. Has society moved away from the bi-dimensional relationship between deviance and entertainment?
BOOK REVIEW: The Butcher Bird by SD Sykes
My review of SD Sykes follow up to “Plague Land”, her latest book, “The Butcher Bird”.
BOOK REVIEW: The Lady Agnes Mystery – Volume I
A review of the Lady Agnes Mystery by Parisienne author, Andrea Japp.
Fredegund’s Deadly Dinner
One of the great villains in Gregory of Tours’ The History of the Franks is Fredegund. The sixth-century Merovingian queen was responsible, according to Gregory, for a lengthy list of murders and attempt assassinations, including against her own family members. She even murdered those men who failed to carry out her assassinations.
The Struggle is Real: Where are the Medieval Economists?!
Another fascinating paper from “Making the Medieval Relevant” was given by Daniel Curtis, a specialist in Social and Economic History, and a professor at the University of Utrecht.
Capital and Corporal Punishment in Anglo-Saxon England
Jay Gates, Nicole Marafioti and Valerie Allen speak about Capital and Corporal Punishment in Anglo-Saxon England
Last Laughs: Torture in Medieval Icelandic Literature
Medieval Icelandic literature is full of violence, calculated and reasoned violence, narrated in such a way as to focus largely on issues of personal honor and justice, less so on the spectacle of blood so common in the modem Hollywood action film.
Sexual Violence in the Early Medieval West
What kind of acts do we consider as sexual violence in relation to the early Middle Ages? And in particular: does the phenomenon come down to a forced sexual act (in the broadest sense of the word, i.e. in a situation whereby somebody against the will of another person achieves sexual satisfaction)?
‘God helped thee; The eagle got food afresh’: Norse Crusaders and the Pleasure of Killing
The men of the north are often depicted in the Norse sagas as taking great pleasure in killing, even doing it for no good reason
Cracking down on illegal gambling in Medieval Livonia
Just like their modern day counterparts, medieval cities had to deal with their own criminal underworlds – the sex trade, gambling, and violence taking place within their walls. At the International Medieval Congress, held earlier this month at the University of Leeds, these issues were explored as part of session #706: Perceiving and Regulating Vices.
The Experience of Growing Up in Medieval Society
This session (#508) was one of several at Leeds devoted to exploring childhood in the Middle Ages. Our presenters talked about the stereotypes of adolescence, and what the coroner’s rolls revealed about the deaths (and lives) of medieval children.
The Afterlife of the Dead: Reform in Attitude Towards Medieval Burials, Corpses and Bones
The International Medieval Congress is taking place at the University of Leeds, I’m on hand this week to report on the conference. This blog post reports on my first session.
Foundation Myths in Medieval and Renaissance Italy
The 3 papers featured here looked at the development of the civic identities of Florence, Genoa and Rome through art, architecture and foundation legends.
Ritualized Violence against Sorcerers in Fifteenth-Century France
These tales of violence and sorcery reveal interesting interactions with renowned sorcerers in villages that had not yet become involved in the witch hunts that were beginning to break out in the mountains in eastern France
David Nirenberg on ‘Religion and Violence’
Do the respective claims of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic holy texts contribute to the violence between the various communities that read them? Or do they provide a basis for solidarity between the three Abrahamic religions?
‘The Halved Heads’: Osteological Evidence for Decapitation in Medieval Ireland
This paper examines the osteological evidence for decapitation from 30 skeletal assemblages dated to the medieval period (6th to 16th century) from Ireland.