True Crusader Crime: Criminality on Campaign
During the Middle Ages, maintaining discipline on campaign was always difficult – and commanders knew that criminality was a ‘gateway behaviour’ which opened up the path to an even greater breakdown of authority.
Top 10 Strangest Deaths in the Middle Ages
Our list of unusual and strange deaths during the Middle Ages, including being bitten by a severed head and falling out of the Tower of London.
Was Charlemagne a Mass Murderer?
This entry for the year 782 in the Royal Frankish Annals is one of the most debated topics of Charlemagne’s reign. Did the ‘Massacre of Verden’ actually happen with 4500 people being killed in a single day?
Five ways to get noticed by Historians
There are a few things that medieval people did that increased their odds of their names surviving, and they happen to be things moderns can do if they want to be remembered, too.
How Criminals got new names in Medieval England
If you were deemed a criminal or a delinquent in medieval England, you might find yourself with a new last name.
Bow & Blade Live!
A live recording of Bow & Blade from the International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds. In this lighthearted episode with lots of audience participation, Michael Livingston and Kelly DeVries answer questions about the Hundred Years’ War, battlefields, and why William Wallace is a bad guy.
Can You Solve These Medieval Riddles?
One of the best riddle-makers of the Middle Ages was Saint Aldhelm. Can you solve 10 of his riddles?
Mobile empire-building: Babur’s campaigns against the Afghans
By Timur Khan The Baburnama, the autobiography of Zahir al-Din ‘Babur’ (d. 1530), is extremely rich in personal reflections, observations, and details about…
10 Famous Swords of the Middle Ages
Perhaps no other item defines the Middle Ages as much as the sword. Here is our list of ten swords – real and fictional – which became famous during the Middle Ages.
The secrets of defrauding your medieval lord
Imagine yourself working for a medieval lord, running his farm and taking care of his business. Would you be tempted to skim off some of his profits?
Five Things to Love About A Knight’s Tale
Yes, I’m talking about the 2001 movie starring the late Heath Ledger. Was it really just a sports movie set in the past? Yes. Was it edited until the plot seems a little less-than-coherent? Yes. But are there things we can love about it? Absolutely.
25 Great Quotes about History
What does history mean? We came across these quotes, ranging from the funny to the profound, revealing what people think of history.
The Medieval Podcast Live! with Eleanor Janega
This week, Danièle travels to the International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds for a chat about life, history, and everything in between with podcast favourite Eleanor Janega in front of a live studio audience.
Book of the Month: Matthew of Edessa’s Chronicle, Volume 3
Our Book of the Month for July will be volume 3 of Matthew of Edessa’s Chronicle, translated by Robert Bedrosian.
Copycat: The Life of a Medieval Scribe
Every book prior to the invention of the printing press was hand-copied from an original, which meant that it involved a lengthy process
New Medieval Books: The Making of England
A general overview of English history from the mid-4th to the mid-16th centuries, with a very good balance of coverage between the Early and Later Middle Ages.
10 Medieval Inventions that Changed the World
Many inventions from the Middle Ages have had lasting importance, even to the present day. Some are physical objects, while others are more of a place – our list looks at ten inventions that made a big impact on our daily lives.
How did medieval people dance?
Historians have known that medieval people enjoyed dancing, but they did not know exactly how they danced. A book by Robert Mullally is answering a part of this question, detailing one of the most popular dances of the Middle Ages.
In Between Two Worlds: Jewish Women and Conversion in Late Medieval Catalonia
Blanca de Banyoles’ life is in many ways emblematic of the experiences of many Jewish women who converted to Christianity following the violence of 1391.
Shoes in the Middle Ages
What were medieval shoes like? What dictated medieval shoe styles?
What were 12th-century Maps of the Holy Land meant to express?
My argument is that the earliest Western type of Holy Land map was formulated in a purely religious context — not in relation to the Crusader enterprise and ideology — and that this type of map was a pure devotional image.
Q&A #6: How does a man-at-arms become a mercenary?
Michael and Kelly answer your questions in this somewhat abbreviated edition of Bow & Blade. Topics include the Ottoman siege of Rhodes, reading Vegetius on campaign, and historical fiction.
New Medieval Books: Fate the Hunter
A collection of 26 poems and one prose piece from the pre-Islamic and early Islamic eras, focused on hunting, a hugely important activity among the Arabs.
10 Medieval Beauty Tips
How did women in the Middle Ages make their hair, faces and skin look beautiful?