Vikings are pretty trendy of late. Marvel’s Thor films, for example, gave Viking mythology the Hollywood treatment and plonked its characters in contemporary America. There have been multiple Viking...
The chastity belt is an item that titillates and fascinates in equal measure. The idea of the brave medieval knight locking up his beloved, naively believing a mere padlock would be enough to keep...
Anthropodermic bibliopegy refers to the practice of binding books in human skin . According to folk legend, the binding of books (or more appropriately manuscripts, as they were hand-written) in...
A medieval-obsessed couple have transformed their four-bedroom, semi-detached home in Somerset, England, into a Middle-Ages-themed castle complete with a banqueting hall. Martin and Jayne Townley...
Traditionally ancient folk remedies are not treated seriously by medical researchers and professionals. However, some scientists are taking a new look at these remedies because some are believed to...
Archaeologists in Scotland have made the rare discovery of a stone ball that was used like a cannonball during a medieval siege. The find is helping experts to better understand Scotland’s Wars of...
"The Khazar people were an unusual phenomenon for Medieval times. Surrounded by savage and nomadic tribes, they had all the advantages of the developed countries: structured government, vast and...
Archaeologists have made a rare discovery during their second season of work at a Medieval castle in Aín, Castellón, Spain. The have unearthed a 700-year-old sword that is in a remarkable state. The...
Great explosions rang out in London’s Lower Thames Street: the sound of houses, shops, warehouses and taverns being blown up, a method intended to halt the spread of the seemingly unstoppable flames...
Archaeologists in the Channel Islands (part of the United Kingdom) made a baffling discovery recently. They discovered the handless skeleton of a man on one of the rocky islets located in the English...
Courtship rituals have existed as long as the concept of romantic love. Such rituals exist to allow couples to get to know each other, and to allow an intimate relationship to develop. In modern,...
Alice Kyteler (known also as the Kilkenny Witch ) was the first recorded person to have been condemned of witchcraft in Ireland. The alleged witch, however, succeeded in fleeing the country, thereby...
In the modern judicial system, the innocence or guilt of an accused may be established based on the evidence brought against him or her. In ancient and medieval societies, however, a different way of...
A controversial new history book called Traitor, Outlaw, King, written by eminent medieval historian Dr Fiona Watson, a former lecturer of history at Stirling University with a PhD from the...
Flying through the skies on a broomstick, the popular image of a witch is as a predominantly female figure – so much so that the costume has become the go-to Halloween outfit for women and girls...
News media outlets in England have announced that a unique piece of property is for sale. A country estate with houses, a pub, and a working farm has come on to the market. There is nothing too...
The Shambles (known officially as Shambles) is a street in York dating to the Middle Ages. Shambles has been called the best-preserved Medieval street in Europe and has been voted as the most...
In 1775, the Scottish inventor Alexander Cumming was granted the first patent for the design of a flushing toilet. Although the Romans were known for their innovation in sanitation, which included...
A British medieval enthusiast took the law into his own hands after being harassed by local youths by grabbing some medieval weaponry and taking them on equipped with a sword and axe. Alun Powell,...
A medieval knight re-enactor who accidentally impaled himself with his lance during a re-enactment event over the weekend has died, leaving his friends and family “stunned.” Virginia military veteran...
On the island of Torcello, at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice excavation site, some protagonists of the island's thousand-year history have begun to emerge. A tomb datable to around 700 AD has...
I bet it’s been a while since you stopped to think about the garbage you generate? As we navigate the corridors of life we each leave behind us a trail of trash but with trash cans and dumpsters in...
Legends, myths and folkloric systems across the western world record legendary horned creatures which have become known to us collectively as unicorns. In heraldry, the unicorn is the symbol of my...
Carl Kears & James Paz / The Conversation Science fiction may seem resolutely modern, but the genre could actually be considered hundreds of years old. There are the alien green “ children of...
