Kings and sons: princely rebellions and the structures of revolt in western Europe, c.1170–c.1280
The 1173 revolt was, in fact, representative of a phenomenon in evidence across the medieval West: that of an uprising led not by disgruntled lords, but by a ruler’s chosen heir.
Commons in the late medieval Crown of Aragon: Regulation, uses and conflicts, 13th-15th centuries
In this paper, we shall show some characteristics of the use of pastures and commons in the Crown of Aragon between the thirteen and fifteenth centuries.
Managing the Commons: The role of the elites in the uses of common lands in the Midlands of the kingdom of Valencia during the Middle Ages
In a recent paper, Danie Curtis has given a framework for classifying preindustrial societies in accordance with four variables, these are, the property, the power, the market of basic products and the modes of production.
The Zaccaria Deal: Contracts and options to fund a Genoese shipment of alum to Bruges in 1298
This paper analyses one of the most fascinating late medieval commercial contracts. Some have advanced that it is was the first ever written maritime insurance.
Scottish Monastic Life
The first thing one has to remember is that most of these visible symbols are the symbols of the very last period of monasticism in Scotland. Monasteries in Scotland were peculiarly likely to suffer the ravages of siege and fire. If they lay on the borders or along the main routes from England into Scotland, they fell victim to the periodic invasion of the English.
Food and the North-Icelandic Identity in 13th century Iceland and Norway
Now food is becoming globalized, but we still recall how food could be used to construct a national identity, with the aid of the institutions of the national state.
A Captive King: Henry III between the battles of Lewes and Evesham, 1264-5
For a period of fifteen months, between the crushing defeat of the royal army at Lewes on 14 May 1264, and Montfort’s brutal murder at Evesham on 4 August 1265, Henry III lost control of his seal, his household and his kingdom as he was forced to accept the appointment of new officials at the centre and periphery of government.
The Charlemagne Window at Chartres Cathedral: New Considerations on Text and Image
The Charlemagne Window, justly considered one of the most beautiful of the history windows of Chartres Cathedral, is located in the northeastern intermediate radial chapel and can probably be dated to about 1225.
How to justify a crusade? The conquest of Livonia and new crusade rhetoric in the early thirteenth century
This article examines an apparently simple question: how to justify a crusade that did not aim at recovering the Holy Land.
Why skaldic verse? Fashion and cultural politics in thirteenth-century Iceland
In this paper I intend to address this question through the poetic evidence of the sagas of Icelanders, analyzing two sagas which were written in the west of Iceland in the middle of thirteenth century.
Matthew Paris and the Royal Christmas: Ritualised Communication in Text and Practice
In the Chronica majora, and its abbreviations, Paris opened each year with a description of how and where the king held Christmas.
Henry Ill’s Plans for a German Marriage (1225) and their Context
In this paper I would like to investigate how these and other factors influenced the two major marriage projects pursued by Henry III in 1225: the king himself was to marry a daughter of the duke of Austria, and his sister Isabella the son and heir of Emperor Frederick I, Henry (VII).
Women, War, and Social Change in Armenia during the Mongol Domination
The Mongol conquest of Armenia precipitated social changes that were in motion since the late 10th-early 11th centuries, such as the dissolution of some princely houses, the realignment of others, as well as the rise of new ones.
Thomas Fitzanthony’s Borough: Medieval Thomastown in Irish History, 1171-1555
Thomas Fitzanthony’s Borough: Medieval Thomastown in Irish History, 1171-1555 Marilyn Silverman In the Shadow of the Steeple VI, Duchas-Tullaherin Parish Heritage Society (1998)…
“The Taint of a Fault”: Purgatory, Relativism and Humanism in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
“The Taint of a Fault”: Purgatory, Relativism and Humanism in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Bill Phillips Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses, No.…
Account Rolls of Medieval Savoy: Example of the Castellany of Evian-Féternes in 1299–1300
The medieval principality of Savoy left historians an outstanding legacy: the corpus of account rolls of its castellanies, the base administrative units of medieval Savoy.
Massive volcanic explosion from 1257 took place on Indonesian island, researchers find
After thirty years of investigation, researchers have discovered where the volcanic explosion took place that caused the medieval ‘year without summer’ in 1258.
Illness and Disability in Twelfth and Thirteenth-Century Notarial Documents in Medieval Toledo
Their documents are symbolic not only of the transition from Muslim Al-Andalus to Christian Spain, but also give us insight into the real-time everyday interactions and events of transitional Toledo after the year 1085 AD between peoples of different cultures, religions, backgrounds and identities.
The Role of Christian Spirituality in 13th Century Interpretations of the Fall of Constantinople
Since the focus of the conflict between the crusaders and Constantinople changed from obtaining transportation to Jerusalem to a religious war against the people of Constantinople, it is critical to understand the role of relics in pilgrimage and the concept of how relics were understood to be translated from one owner to another, i.e., furtum sacrum.
The City and the Cross: the image of Constantinople and the Latin empire in thirteenth-century papal crusading rhetoric
This paper examines the way papal rhetoric made use of the image and reputation of the city of Constantinople in order to legitimise and incite support for its crusading calls for the defence of the Latin empire after 1204.
The Albigensian Crusades: Wars Like Any Other?
There are three great clichés in our view of the Albigensian Crusades which most historians find hard to resist.
Medieval French bestiaries
The French Bestiaries of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries marked the culmination of at least two traditions of Beast Legend.
The Eyes Have It: Blindness and Vision in Matthew Paris’s Estoire de seint Aedward le rei
La Estoire de seint Aedward le rei (The History of Saint Edward the King) is extant in only one manuscript—and it is stunning