Daily Medieval

We note with sadness the passing of Ray Tomlinson  on 7 March 2016, whose name and history are unknown to the general populace but whose in...

Abu ʾl-Qasim Ferdowsi Tusi (940 - 1020) was a Persian poet, creator of the longest single-author epic poem in the world. The poem in questi...

In The Forme of Cury  cookbook from Richard II's court, there is a recipe for "Rapes in Potage," "rapes" meaning tu...

The Smithfield Decretals have been mentioned recently. They are a book of decrees drawn from 1,971 letters from Pope Gregory IX, with glos...

Yesterday mentioned the Smithfield Decretals , a detailed work on ecclesiastical law. It was produced in the 14th century, full of importan...

Following on the heels of yesterday's discussion of Leap Day, I thought we should give some attention to the poor saint whose feast day...

Bernard of Botone (d.1266) gloss on Leap Day Most of you know that Julius Caesar in the 1st century BCE wanted to fix the fact that sol...

One of the questions we have about the numerous books that were created in the Middle Ages is: how did they turn animal skins into parchmen...

We have looked at some of the possible reasons for dating Christ's birth to December 25th, but how early was that dating settled upon?...

Was December 25th the default date for Christmas because of a Roman Saturnalia or because of deliberate copying with Mithraism? Connected...

Sunrise on the Winter Solstice at Stonehenge Sol stitium  [Latin: "sun standing still"] is the origin of the Modern English s...

Here is a description of a medieval cult: At length, when the novice has come forward, [he] is met by a man of wondrous pallor, who has b...

Although Pope Gregory IX felt it his duty to protect the Jews , he had issues with their Talmud, the collection of Jewish laws and practice...

The Talmud [late Hebrew talmūd , "instruction"] is the body of Jewish civil and ceremonial law. It includes the Mishnah (exegeti...

The post Charlemagne and the Popes  mentioned Pope Leo III taking an Oath of Purgation to "prove" his innocence of accusations ma...

We saw here how Charlemagne captured his ex-father-in-law, King Desiderius of the Lombards, and imprisoned him in the Benedictine Abbey of...

Desiderius, from a 15th century miniature I mentioned here how Charlemagne fought and defeated Desiderius, King of the Lombards, and s...

The Vatican is considered the "Smallest Country in the World." Its 0.17 square-mile size (110 acres) makes it the smallest recogn...

[ source ] Eclipses were a mystery for awhile, but eventually enough took place that astronomers could spot the patterns. European astr...

"A Grete Pye" should look like this  [ source ] What will you do with all that turkey on Friday? Why not a "Great Pie...

I like to link items in each post to previous posts that offer more info on those items. I have frequently referred to the time when the po...

The Glory of the Roman Empire was seen by the Middle Ages as a Golden Age. Petrarch lamented the loss of learning and art between the peak...

In the post on short-lived reigns, I mentioned John I of France, sone of Louis X and Clémence of Hungary, who reigned five days because he ...

Queen Elizabeth II of England recently passed a milestone, becoming the longest-reigning monarch of England. I am not certain of the "...

The posts called The Marrying Kind (Parts 1 , 2 , and 3 ) mentioned Zoe Porphyrogenita's nephew Michael confining her to "the wome...

One of the things that "everyone knows" about the Middle Ages is that there was no clean water to be had, and so they drank bee...

Off the coast of Mystic, Connecticut is Enders Island. Only 11 acres in size, it is named for Dr. Thomas B. Enders, who purchased it in 191...

Part 1 tells how Zoe Porphyrogenita had one fiancee die, how she rejected another, and how her first husband died. Part 2 tells how her...

[continued from Part 1 ] After Emperor Romanos III Argyros was found dead in his bath, suspicion fell on Michael the Paphlagonian. Michae...