Daily Medieval

King Louis VII of France had a problem. His clever and wealthy wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine , was really getting on his nerves. On the Second ...

The Second Crusade was the first to be led by European kings. It was announced by Pope Eugene III , preached widely by Bernard of Clairvaux ...

Peter of Montboissier was born to a woman who was called "Blessed Raingarde" (she was revered as saintly but not formally canonize...

Alberic started in Beauvais in France but went everywhere once he became a papal legate. Born in 1080, he entered Cluny and became a Benedic...

I mentioned yesterday that John of Salisbury was one of the medieval authors who understood  eclipses . He had a long career that I'll g...

Aelred of Rievaulx took a successful abbey and made it even more grand (although the illustration will show that its fortunes have fallen so...

Large stone buildings intended to last for centuries, such as examples of Gothic Architecture , would be exposed to ages and ages of rainwat...

After the Ostrogoths took Rome in 476 under Odoacer , the Senate continued managing affairs; after all, the "barbarians" didn'...

When Pope Honorius II died in 1130, two popes were elected by rival factions, first Innocent II by a small contingent of cardinals, and then...

Like many well-known theologians/priests in the Middle Ages, Bernard of Clairvaux was born to a wealthy family. This was in Burgundy in 1090...

The Immaculate Conception is the Roman Catholic dogma that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was free from original sin from the moment of her conc...

Hugh of Jabala tells Pope Eugene about Prester John Many of you know about the decades when the papacy was headquartered in Avignon (fi...

William of Champeaux (c.1070-1122) was a student of Anselm of Laon , and may have helped to compile the Glossa interlinearis . He may also h...