Daily Medieval

The oath of frankpledge (mentioned here ) was a promise of mutual aid between members of a community, used throughout several centuries of ...

Recent posts have talked about the sons of William the Conqueror: how he left the kingdom to his second son, William Rufus; how the eldest,...

A copy of the Coronation Charter of Henry I/Charter of Liberties When William Rufus died, his younger brother Henry assumed the throne....

The Battle of Tinchebray When Ralph Flambard escaped from the Tower of London, he fled to Normandy to the court of its duke, Robert Cur...

Ralph Flambard was born in Bayeux, Normandy six years before William the Conqueror crossed the English Channel and became King of England. ...

When William the Conqueror died in 1087, he decided to leave the throne of England to his second eldest, William Rufus. To his eldest, Robe...

Yesterday's post mentioned Henry becoming king of England upon the death of his brother, William Rufus. Their father was William the C...

The phrase "Father of His Country" is usually reserved for George Washington, first President of the United States, for his role ...

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

Pope Paschal II speaking to Anselm of Canterbury On 13 August 1099, a Cluniac monk from northwest of Rome named Ranierius was named Pop...

St. Michael and All Angels, Haselbury Plucknett On 20 February 1154, a fight broke out over a corpse. The corpse "belonged" to...

I mentioned here that, after the Battle of Hastings, another claimant to the throne of England had to flee to Scotland in the face of Wil...

Seal of Queen Matilda When King William II died mysteriously in 1100, his brother immediately ascended the throne. Needing a queen, he ...

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

When the White Ship sank in 1120, drowning King Henry I's son and heir, William Adelin, England was in crisis. Henry decided that his d...

Matilda of Flanders (c.1031-1083), also called Maud, was the wife of William II of Normandy (later William the Conqueror). Their legendary a...

When Henry I (1068-1135) was king of England, the rule of the law was simple: someone had to pay for a crime. The philosophy was "...

William of Malmesbury tells us of a disastrous event on 25 November 1120: the sinking of the White Ship off the coast of Normandy: Here al...

In the 12th century in England, the practice of writing histories was becoming relatively common. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles and the Chro...