The Struggle for Power within the Mamluk Sultanate
The Mamluks had a long tradition of deposing and/or killing their own rulers. Only a few sultans could meet the challenges posed by revolts, civil wars, and internal struggles.
The Ottomans in Medieval Eastern Europe
How the Ottomans expanded into medieval Eastern Europe – an overview from the 14th century to the 16th century.
Courage Under Fire: Richard II and the Peasants’ Revolt
The Peasants’ Revolt tested the mettle of teenaged king Richard II in unimaginable ways.
Geoffrey: the Prodigal Son of Henry II
Geoffrey’s devotion to Henry II and the favored status which saw him rise high in his father’s reign
The Hundred Years’ War Revisited: English Blunders in the 14th century
So how was it that after this seemingly total victory could England let the initiative slip through its fingers?
William Longespée: The Tyrant’s Enforcer
Born sometime around the mid 1170s, William Longespée was the son of King Henry II and the most aristocratic and well connected of his known mistresses, Ida de Tosny.
Isabella of France, Queen of England
This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle tells the story of one of her favourite queens, Isabella of France, who went from being a child bride to storming England and toppling an anointed king.
The Hundred Years War Revisited: The ‘Caroline War’, 1369-1389
This phase is distinctive in that it saw the scope of the conflict between England and France become truly international – some of its most notable battles were fought far from the home territories of the two belligerents in places as far north as Scotland and Flanders and as far south as Castile and Portugal.
How to Rebel via Jokes and Laughter: Two Examples of Rebellious Emotions in the Early Middle Ages
Two very different examples of public emotions have been presented. On the one hand Sichar failed to fulfill his ritual obligation by using a too rude joke. His attempt to rebel against his conqueror backfired and led – without any laughter at his bad joke – to his own death.
The Challenge of State Building in the Twelfth Century: the Crusader States in Palestine and Syria
The crusader states in the twelfth century do not conform to the stereotypical constructs of historians and economists; instead they present a series of paradoxes.
Hamelin de Warenne: The Devoted Black Sheep
Hamelin is something of an anomaly, being the only illegitimate royal family member raised to an earldom during the twelfth century who was not the son of a king.
Diet, Prejudice and Non-Verbal Communication: Liutprand of Cremona’s Embassy to Constantinople
Thanks to Liutprand’s sharp (and biased) report, we have the chance to peer into the cultural prejudices which characterized the relationship between the eastern and the western hemispheres of Europe
Bastards and The Anarchy
Taking advantage of the confusion and division created by the inheritance crisis following the death of Henry I, his nephew Stephen seized the throne
A comparative study of Urraca of León-Castilla (d. 1126), Melisende of Jerusalem (d. 1161), and Empress Matilda of England (d. 1167) as royal heiresses
This thesis explores aspects of rulership over five chapters, aimed at understanding how a royal heiress might succeed or fail to gain the throne, keep the throne, and preserve it for future generations.
Medieval Geopolitics: The Hundred Years’ War: A Tale of Two Crowns
Ultimately, the war was caused by the confluence of a series of events – deeply rooted in medieval concepts of statehood and sovereignty that seem alien at first to modern observers – that eventually formed into a cascade that swept both belligerents (as well as the rest of Europe) out of the medieval era and towards their early modern national destinies.
Medieval Geopolitics: Gascony and the Causes of the Hundred Years’ War
While the titanic clash of medieval superpowers that took place over 117 years later known collectively as the Hundred Years War would rage from Scotland to Spain and everywhere in between, one place that seems to forever lie at the heart of the conflict are the warm, sunny, and wine-sodden vistas of Bordeaux and Gascony.
Medieval Geopolitics: Marxism and Medieval War
How do Marxists deal with medieval geopolitics, and specifically with the dynamics of war in the Middle Ages?
Al-Hajjaj: Machiavellian or Villain?
Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi was the Umayyad caliphate’s most famous and most able governor. He administered the eastern “super province” of the caliphate which included Iraq, Khurasan, and Sijistan from 694 to 714.
Seizing Power, Keeping Power, and kicking up a fuss in early medieval England and France
The early middle ages on both sides of the Channel is full of episodes of rebellion and opposition by many parties with an axe to grind, whether disinherited members of ruling families, sidelined aristocrats, or disgruntled peasants.
Disputed Isle: The Foundations of Mortimer Power in Ireland
Roger was at the very heart of this process as head of the Irish administration from 1316, but his commission also required him to defend the island against an invasion from Scotland.
Exonerating Manuel I Komnenos: Byzantine Foreign Policy (1143-1180)
How did Manuel justify his foreign policy and how did his contemporaries view him?
Charlotte de Lusignan: A Fighting Queen
In the 15th century the Lusignan Kingdom of Cyprus was what you might call a dissolving dynasty, living the last moments of its rule.
The Saxon expeditions against the Wends and the foundation of Magdeburg during Otto I’s reign
This essay ask for the reasons why some rulers such as Otto I strove for an imperial agenda and how the expeditions of his margraves across Elbe were legitimized by contemporary writers.
Was 751 the most important year in history?
Would you consider the year 751 CE one of the most important dates in human history?
Medieval Geopolitics: A Full-Fledged Theory of Medieval Papal Power
Hostiensis argued that the pope did not govern by divine mandate; rather he governed as a divine agent.