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Meagan Dickerson

Meagan is a postgraduate history student, having completed her undergraduate degree in her home country of Australia, majoring in Modern History and Literature, during the course of which she won several awards including the Australian Federation of Graduate Women NSW North Shore Prize for History. She then moved to Ireland, where she completed a Masters of Philosophy degree in Medieval Studies at Trinity College, Dublin, graduating with distinction.

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Representational image of Ermine de Reims. Source: inarik / Adobe Stock

The Visions of Ermine de Reims - Supernatural Forces in Everyday Medieval Life

Ermine de Reims was a relatively inconsequential peasant woman who moved to the town of Reims, in northeastern France, from rural Vermandois with her elderly husband in 1384. She was a pious woman,...
The screen poster for the 1982 film The Return of Martin Guerre.		Source: Erogers148 / CC BY-SA 4.0

Martin Guerre: A Much Celebrated Historic Tale of Stolen Identity

On the 16th of September 1560, in the small rural French town of Artigat, a man named Arnaud du Tilh was put to death by hanging for a most unusual crime: for over three years, he had assumed an...

King Aelle and the Blood Eagle: Ritual Sacrifice in Viking Age Britain

Thanks to recent attention in popular culture, the story of King Aelle’s violent death at the hands of Ivar the Boneless in a type of ritual killing known as the “blood eagle” is well-known. The...
The many faces of the famed medieval sorcerer, Merlin. Source: rolffimages / Adobe Stock

The Many Faces of Merlin: Prophet, Architect, Holy Man

The character of Merlin has been a recurring figure in Western popular culture ever since the Middle Ages. In his many iterations, Merlin is most often associated with the legendary King Arthur...
Anglo-Saxon warriors lived by their Anglo-Saxon honor code. Source: warmtail / Adobe Stock

Honor, Loyalty, and Worth: The Anglo-Saxon Warrior Code

Every culture and society on Earth, both past and present, has their own ideas of what makes a person honorable or worthy. This is particularly true when it comes to warriors and their actions both...
The Pillar of Eliseg is just one monument that bears witness to the Romanitas of early medieval Wales. Source: Public domain

Romanitas in Early Medieval Wales: The Evidence of Latin Standing Stones

There are very few texts that survive from early medieval Wales, an era spanning the moment when the Romans left Wales until the Normans arrived. This is one of the reasons that historians have...
Amy Bailey as Queen Cynethryth in the TV series Vikings. 		Source: The HISTORY Channel

Queen Cynethryth of Mercia: Victim of a Medieval Smear Campaign?

The Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia was unique because the queens of Mercia left enough of an impact on their world as to be worthy of remembrance. History has not been so kind, however, to some of...
King Penda of Mercia. Source: breakermaximus / Adobe Stock

King Penda of Mercia: Militant Heathen or Visionary Statesman?

In his seminal work entitled Anglo-Saxon England published in 1943, Sir Frank Stenton states that “the overthrow of Penda meant the end of militant heathenism and the development of civilization in...
Are our conceptions of war and peace more civilized in modern times? The Apotheosis of War, by Vasily Vereshchagin. Source: Public domain

War and Peace in Pre-Modern Europe: Have We Really Bypassed Brutality?

When pondering themes of war and peace, there is a general perception among modern people of the Western world that the time we live in is decidedly more civilized and peaceful than any other era of...
St Rumwold was an infant saint. Source: Framestock / Adobe Stock

St Rumwold: The Infant Saint and Medieval Miracle Stories

Tucked away in an almost-forgotten manuscript from the 11th century is the extraordinary tale of St Rumwold, an infant saint who lived on this earthly plane for only three days. But in that short...
The gatehouse of Bury St Edmunds Abbey. Source: Charles / Adobe Stock.

Bury-St-Edmunds Abbey: Shrine of the King, Cradle of the Law

If you’ve never visited the Suffolk region of southern England, you may not have heard the name of Bury-St-Edmunds. But this small medieval town is home to one of the most important and powerful...
Landowning houses used charters to confirm their ownings. Source: Thomas Mucha / Adobe Stock.

Forged Medieval Charters: How To Rewrite History In The Middle Ages

At first glance, charters seem to be nothing more than obscure and boring legal documents, as dull in the Middle Ages as they are today. On closer examination however, there is much more to charters...
Holy Sovereignty:  How the English Church Resisted a Norman Takeover

Holy Sovereignty: How the English Church Resisted a Norman Takeover

The Norman Conquest of England in 1066 brought enormous social and political upheaval to English society. Structures and institutions that had been in place for centuries were replaced by Norman ones...
Misleading 19th century depicting the “barbarian” Visigoths sack of Rome in Late Antiquity Source: Public domain

Barbarians versus Romans: Violence and Urban Life in Late Antiquity

The image of the savage, violent barbarian is well-entrenched in Western culture and has been a part of our literary, popular culture and even our language for centuries. Most people would not...
Dark Age Britain is the name given to the post-Roman era, remembered as a time when British kingdoms descended into a fight for supremacy. Source: Stanislav / Adobe Stock

‘Just’ War and Martialism in Dark Age Britain

Dark Age Britain has been remembered as a time of great chaos and constant war. After the Romans withdrew from Britain in 410 AD, taking the stability of their imperial structures and large armies...
Saint Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan friars order, as depicted in the Madonna del Sasso Sanctuary in Locarno, Switzerland.

Ireland’s Franciscan Friars: Men in the Middle of a Divided Society

The origins of Christianity in Ireland trace back as far as the 5th century, when the Bishop Palladius was sent from Rome on a mission to convert the Irish people in 431 AD. Palladius was followed a...

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