Daily Medieval

After the sack of Genoa by the Fatimids, the city started to recover. One avenue for commercial growth was the Crusades, and the First Crus...

I wrote about Enrico Dandolo, the Doge of Venice, 10 years ago here , but let's look at the man who "imprisoned" the Fourth Cr...

The influence of Byzantine art and culture on Italy (especially in the 13th century) was discussed yesterday , and I referred obliquely to a...

Our teeth would no doubt be better off if this had never been discovered, but Pandora's box was opened long ago. Different species of su...

Article One of King Henry III's 1253  Statute of Jewry allowed Jews to stay in England so long as they served the king in some capacity...

We should probably start by pointing out the misleading nature of the illustration [MS. Ludwig XIV 6, c.1290-1310, from Aragon]. Depictions ...

The Republic of Venice lasted from its establishment in 697 until 12 May 1797 when Napoleon conquered Venice and the last doge stepped down....

From Venice in the north to the heel of Italy's boot, the Adriatic offers access to the Mediterranean for many Italian cities, as well a...

Władysław III of Poland was born on 31 October 1424. He was named King of Poland when he was 10 years old and King of Hungary at the age ...

The crypt of St. Nicholas in Bari The city of Bari is located in southern Italy, right at the "Achilles Heel" so to speak. Th...

[see Part 1 here ] From Venice to Zara, and later to Constantinople Those members of the 4th Crusade who went to Venice were lodged ...

The Kingdom of Jerusalem, established after the First Crusade by Europeans, had been re-conquered by Saladin in 1187. Much of that was rec...

This past Saturday, the 21st of June, was the anniversary of the death of Enrico Dandolo, the 42nd Doge of Venice. His tenure as Doge had...

Doxe de Venexia. Doge di Venezia. The Doge of Venice. The title is based on the Latin dux ["military leader"], from which ...

The much-disputed Crimean Peninsula On the north coast of the Black Sea, a peninsula extends from the southern part of Ukraine. If you l...

Detail of the Venetian Arsenal from the Civitates Orbis Terrarum [1572] When we think of Venice and boats, we think of gondolas being...

In the Middle Ages, the evidence suggests that Ethiopia was a Christian nation surrounded by hostile Muslim territories. Medieval manuscript...

Today is the 758th anniversary (according to tradition) of the birth of Marco Polo (1254-1324). Son of a wealthy Venetian merchant who tra...

With the world of technology enjoying heated debate over the Apple vs. Samsung patent ruling, I thought it would be interesting to look at t...