Relics and Rulers: The Politics of Holiness in Byzantium
Saints and relics shaped political authority, religious life, and economic power in the Byzantine Empire.
New Medieval Books: The Merseburg Charms
In the 10th century, a cleric in Germany wrote down two magical charms rooted in pre-Christian pagan beliefs. This book takes a detailed look at the Merseburg Charms, exploring their origins, meaning, and significance.
Why Trees Mattered in the Middle Ages
Trees held deep meaning in medieval life, appearing in religion, mythology, literature, political gatherings and even the food served at wealthy tables.
Unpublished Tolkien Translation of a Medieval Text Brought to Light
A previously unpublished translation by J. R. R. Tolkien sheds new light on his extensive study of medieval English literature and language.
New Medieval Books: Natural and Supernatural in Early Medieval England
Were strange creatures believed to inhabit the lands just beyond the known world? Could an illness be cured by a plant or a magic spell? As this book reveals, people in medieval England grappled with questions such as these.
Heresy and Orthodoxy in the Byzantine Empire
Discover how the Byzantine Empire defined orthodoxy, confronted heresy, and used councils, theology, and imperial power to defend Christian unity.
Medieval Pilgrimages: Tourism, Shipwrecks and Robbers
Why did people go on medieval pilgrimages? Explore the dangerous journeys to Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela, from storms at sea to highway robbers.
From Sin to Capitalism: Jacques Le Goff on Usury in the Middle Ages
Nearly forty years after its publication, Jacques Le Goff’s Your Money or Your Life remains a key work on medieval religion, usury, and the origins of capitalism.
New Medieval Books: The Philokalia
This collection of texts may date from the eighteenth century, but the works it contains are all medieval in origin. Together, they offer a diverse glimpse into the Eastern Orthodox tradition that shaped the religious life of the Byzantine world.
Teaching the Faith in Byzantine Christianity: The Catechetical Process
Explore how Byzantine Christians taught the faith through structured catechesis, liturgical instruction, and episcopal oversight, shaping the religious life and identity of the medieval Eastern Roman Empire.
New Medieval Books: Exhortation to the Monks by Hyperechios
In the Early Middle Ages, a monk named Hyperechios composed a collection of 160 sayings intended to guide Christians, especially those pursuing an ascetic life. This book presents a new edition and translation of these writings.
Icons, Riots, and Theology: Why Iconoclasm Nearly Tore the Byzantine Empire Apart
Byzantine iconoclasm sparked riots, persecutions, and political turmoil as emperors, monks, and ordinary believers fought over the role of sacred images in the medieval Roman Empire.
How Medieval Religious Images Evoked Sound
Medieval religious images may have been designed to evoke sound in the minds of viewers, according to a new study examining the Harley Roll, a medieval English scroll depicting the life of Saint Guthlac.
Three Heresiologists of the 12th-century: Zigabenos, Kamateros, and Choniates, with Alessandra Buccosi, Niccolò Zorzi, Marco Fanelli, and Ottavia Mazzon
A conversation on three twelfth-century heresiological texts, the challenges of publishing and studying them, and the ways their central concerns can be presented in a museum exhibition.
Judas in the Middle Ages: The Making of an Anti-Hero
Judas was one of the most troubling figures in medieval Christian thought, not simply as Christ’s betrayer but as a symbol of despair, envy, and damnation. Lorris Chevalier explores how medieval writers turned him into a full anti-hero, reshaping a brief biblical figure into one of the era’s most powerful moral myths.
New Medieval Books: Light on Darkness
For the uninitiated, the rituals, prayers, and music of the Catholic Church can seem difficult to understand. This book provides an accessible introduction to liturgy in Western Europe, showing what these rituals were meant to convey from the Middle Ages to the present day.
Heresiology in the Twelfth Century, with Alessandra Bucossi
On Byzantium & Friends, a conversation with Alessandra Bucossi on the preoccupation with heresy in the twelfth century, which resulted in the production of a number of massive anti-heretical treatises.
New Medieval Books: Silence of the Gods
By the end of the Middle Ages, the last predominantly pagan regions of Europe were undergoing conversion to Christianity. This book traces that transition and explores how older pagan beliefs and practices continued to endure for centuries afterward.
Did Alfred the Great send an embassy from England to India?
A new study is taking a fresh look at one of the most surprising lines in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle—the claim that, in the 880s, King Alfred the Great sent two men on a mission to India.
New Medieval Books: Blessed Mary and the Monks of England
Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, has long stood at the centre of Christian theology and devotion. This book explores how English monks expressed their reverence for her—and how they held her up as a model for Christian life.
New Medieval Books: Impossible Recovery
The writings of Julian of Norwich, the fourteenth-century English mystic, have long fascinated medievalists. This book zeroes in on Julian’s illness during her visions, asking what that experience was like in human terms — as the author puts it, “What did she really experience, what did she feel, there in her sickbed in 1373?”
Medieval Discovery: Richard Rolle’s Original Emending of Life Survives in One Copy
New research identifies a medieval manuscript as the only complete original copy of Richard Rolle’s Emending of Life, restoring lost passages and language.
Early Medieval Church in Iraq Points to Christian–Zoroastrian Neighbours
Archaeologists excavating Gird-î Kazhaw in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region say an early medieval church complex near a Sasanian fort may show Christians and Zoroastrians living side by side in the fifth–sixth centuries.
The Medieval Origins of Military Chaplaincy
How medieval armies developed military chaplaincy, from Constantine’s bishops to Ireland’s repeatable confession and the Carolingian reforms that put priests on campaign across Western Europe.