Daily Medieval

After the death of Muhammad in June 632, his followers discussed who should carry on his message to all parts of the world. Muhammad's c...

Let us talk about coinage, specifically the solidus . Its plural was solidi ; also known as the bezant  (named for Byzantium, the earlier na...

Among the groups in history that have long since disappeared, there are the Pechenegs. They were a semi-nomadic group that spoke a Turkic l...

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...

The population of Syria is currently about 60% Sunni and 13% Shia Muslim. 'Twas not always thus. Map of ancient Syria, 1683 [ sourc...

Boethius (left, with numbers from India) debating Pythagoras (right, with an abacus) while Arithmetic looks on Boethius has been mentio...

17th century knife and fork There is a point in the movie Becket (taken from the play of the same name by Jean Anouilh) that introdu...

Eastern façade of the Boukoleon Palace, facing the Sea. "Born to the purple." You may have heard the phrase before; it denote...

An 11th-century depiction of Varangian Guards. In recent posts on the 4th Crusade and the Siege of Constantinople, I mentioned the Vara...

Explanation of cross-in-square from this  fascinating site. Today is May Day, and the anniversary of the consecration of the Nea Ekklesi...

A representation of the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields We mentioned here that the Huns under Bleda and Attila negotiated a treaty wit...

[I am on a brief vacation, so here is a post from the past. This post first appeared 2 December 2012.] When Anna Comnena was born in 10...

from a 1499 woodcut by Jacob Locher Hippocrates was aware of the phenomenon of conjoined twins, and offered an explanation: the male pr...

The results of Justinian's plan for re-unifying the Empire The Byzantine Emperor Justinian was known for—among other things—establis...

Albrecht Durer's illustration for a copy of the Lexicon The Catholic Encyclopedia says of Soudas/Suidas: Author of, perhaps, the m...

Coins from Kingdom of Jerusalem in British Museum (l. to r.) dinar (1162-75), Arabic bezant (1140-80), Christian bezant (1250-) [ source ]...

Yes, it's the witch-weighing scene from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" There is a medieval anecdote in the so-called &q...

Pope Gregory at the Second Council of Lyons The Second Council of Lyons, mentioned yesterday, accomplished many things. It was called by...

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