Daily Medieval

Giovanni Boccaccio's best known work to modern readers is his Decameron , a Greek word that means "Ten Days." In it, seven yo...

Pope Boniface VIII had a grievance with Dante Alighieri . Dante at that time was a politician, having been in the very important position of...

The Guelphs and the Ghibellines were two Italian political factions in the Middle Ages, offering more and less support for the papacy, respe...

Dante Alighieri was an Italian poet and politician, born in Florence to a wealthy landowner. His mother died when he was less than ten years...

John Hawkwood (c.1323 - 1394) was an English soldier who became famous as a mercenary leader. Many Italian city-states hired foreign mercena...

The Medici family name is known to many casual readers of history. Let's talk about the man who started it all. Born on 27 Septembe...

I have always been impressed by the work of Marsilius Ficino (1433 - 1499), but was not sure how to tackle him in a short blog post. Whet...

Poggio's notes on monument  [ link ] Many months ago this post mentioned a time when there were three popes at once, who were final...

Pope Gregory XI arriving in Rome in 1377 Fresco by Giorgio Vasari Pope Gregory XI wanted land. He was the last pope to reside in Avigno...

Funerary monument to Hawkwood This is the story of how an English soldier of no particular background rose to such prominence that a mo...

One of the famous sites in Florence, Italy, is the Ponte Vecchio, the bridge over the River Arno. Ponte Vecchio means "old bridge,"...

The Collapse of the 1340s Florence was the headquarters for some powerful families in the Middle Ages who used their wealth and business a...