Daily Medieval

At the end of yesterday's post on the Auld Alliance I mentioned that France (or the Franks) had formed earlier alliances, some of them ...

First thing first: no one called him "the Fat" in his lifetime that we know of; it certainly wasn't in any contemporary record...

When King Boso of Provence died on 11 January 887, the only heir of his was the seven-year-old Louis III. Boso had ruled Provence, Upper Bur...

Large empires such as the Roman Empire needed ways to communicate quickly and efficiently with their far-flung domains. For the Romans, it w...

7th c. Asturian Church of Santa Cristina de Lena, Spain This will be a brief introduction to the styles of medieval architecture that e...

Charles the Simple Charles III, called "the Simple" (from Latin Carolus Simplex ) was a King of Francia (what we think of tod...

Tiffany window of Charlemagne and Alcuin at LaFayette College (1898) Alcuin of York has been mentioned before, primarily in his relat...

Electrical and Mechanical Engineers have their own patron saint—at least, in the British Army they do. Saint Eligius (or Eloi, or Eloy) was...

The Eastern Emperor Justinian's (482-565 CE) attempt to conquer the Western Empire left it bruised and open to invasion. The Lombard Kin...

Nicknames: so easy to get, so hard to get rid of. When Mayor of the Palace and military genius  Charles Martel presented his 12-year-old s...