The knight in shining armor is undoubtedly the first image that comes to mind for most people when they think about warfare during the Middle Ages . The knight in this mental image is often a warrior...
The tenacity of amateur archaeologists and historians searching on a remote island off the coast of the Northern Territories in Australia seems to have finally paid off. The team has found a small...
Mention medieval scholarship , and the first image that most people will have would probably be that of a monk with a quill in his hand and an open book before him. The most well-known scholars of...
The world was shocked by the sight of Notre Dame Cathedral burning . It prompted many people to think about their heritage and reminded them of how we take the great works of the past for granted...
Caerphilly Castle in south Wales stands proud amongst the medieval fortifications and strongholds in the United Kingdom and is classed among the finest in Europe. It is also one of the largest in...
Carcassonne is Europe’s largest fortified city that still stands today. It is located in Aude, a department in the southern French region of Occitanie . The city is divided into two parts by the Aude...
In West Africa during the Medieval period, salt was traded for gold. This may seem astonishing as salt is a cheap commodity in today’s society. It may be added that salt is easily available today...
A drollerie (also spelled as drollery) is a type of marginalia found on Medieval manuscripts. Drolleries are amusing, often grotesque, figures drawn on the edges of manuscripts and may be found in...
A 14-year-old boy digging in a churchyard in Glasgow has rediscovered three rare medieval gravestones with highly-detailed interlacing carved patterns. The three very special gravestones were...
The box bed, sometimes known by its French name of lit clos, is a bed built into a piece of furniture. It looks curious to us today and it’s somewhat of a novelty to climb into bed and shut the doors...
Press Release / University of Bristol A rare, original royal charter from the first year of King John’s reign has been discovered in Durham by a medieval historian from the University of Bristol. The...
...not [to] me. My mother gave me life... The disciples said to Jesus,... deny. Mary is (not?) worthy of it. ... Jesus said to them, "My wife... she is able to be my disciple... Let wicked people...
Handwriting is one of those things most people don’t really give a second thought to today – we live in a world where we are surrounded by text and the vast majority of the time it is printed rather...
A recent discovery is demonstrating the influence of Islamic medicine on European physicians. A fragment from a book dating from the 1400s has revealed the influence of a Muslim Persian polymath on...
Researchers have announced a grisly find in Sicily, Italy. They have discovered a bizarre 1000-year-old Medieval grave. It contained the skeleton of a man who met a violent death and was buried face-...
Many rare historical objects have been found during construction projects. A rare sword from the 14 th century has recently been unearthed in Denmark during a project in a busy city-street. The find...
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...
