Daily Medieval

(I apologize if the title—or the topic—is too crude for some.) The poor fellow to the right (the one half showing) is suffering from an an...

The "Beast of Provence" (also known as the "Giant of Provence" or "Bald Mountain") is actually Mont Ventoux [M...

Let's see...so many to choose from. The Feast Day of St. George , patron saint of England (who certainly did not exist) Anniversary of...

Recent events in Boston have underscored what Americans do not know about world geography. The news that the alleged bombers were Chechen, f...

Every once in awhile, I decide to throw in bits and pieces that come my way but don't fit into a regular post. I did one here for the d...

Since we brought up Canterbury yesterday, and arguably its most famous archbishop, let us take a look at his predecessor, who was very much...

Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote  The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote  DailyMedieval doesn't usually talk about...

Madaba, a town east of the Dead Sea, suffered from a devastating earthquake in 746 and was left to become wilderness. Centuries later, Madab...

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

Did a monk of the 11th century accomplish the first manned flight? There is reason to believe so. In the Gesta Regum Anglorum [Deeds of...

This blog has touched on the debate over the date of Easter in the past, but the truth is that the early Church went through different phase...

Rudolph of Swabia was referred to as an anti-king after he was defeated by Henry IV in 1080. Anti-popes are a common concept in history, ...

Today picks up from the previous post . Although canon law did not apply to non-Christian populations, that attitude changed when Europe...

Since I've been looking into canon law lately ( here and here ), I thought I would share an interesting facet of Medieval era canon law...

Ignorantia juris neminem excusat. Ignorance of the law excuses no one. Many years ago, comedian Steve Martin offered up a mono...

There is an ongoing debate in the modern age concerning how much vacation time an industrialized nation should allow its work force (5 w...

Did the greatest English poet of the 14th century and the greatest French poet of the 14th century meet, thanks to the Hundred Years War? ...

Plaque in Queenhithe. One of modern London's 25 Wards, Queenhithe, has an ancient history. It is currently quite silted up, but orig...

King Edward and his knights counting their dead after the Battle of Crécy, Hundred Years War Sir Richard Stury (c.1330-1395) was a membe...

Chapels of the Bardi & Peruzzi families in Santa Croce, Florence Florence was the headquarters for some powerful families in the Mi...

The ultimate character witness. Throughout several centuries and many countries, establishing your innocence or trustworthiness in a court o...

Nicholas Oresme (c.1325-1382) likely came from humble beginnings; we assume this because he attended the College of Navarre, a royally fu...

For some reason, a 12th century Norman knight named Jocelin did not want his son to follow in his footsteps. We do not know why, but a commo...

Image from Adelard's translation of Euclid's Elements of Geometry Being inquisitive is the first step to learning.* In the early...

Hole Roman Emperor Henry IV When Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV took the Walk to Canossa and asked forgiveness of Pope Gregory VII in orde...

On the heels of the three "Church & State" posts, it is appropriate to talk about a clash between an emperor and a pope. Today...

Part 1 showed how Christian writers eventually came to the conclusion that the State was not the result of Man's sinful nature, and had ...

Yesterday we looked at some of the history of political philosophy analyzing the proper relationship between the spiritual institution of th...

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) had very strong feelings about the difference between spiritual and temporal authority and structures. In his...

Saint Walburga (c.710-779), mentioned yesterday because of the "Oil of Saints" that flows from the stone and metal on which her re...