Daily Medieval

Licoricia of Winchester, the second wife of David of Oxford  (one of the wealthiest financiers in England in the 13th century), was a succes...

When David of Oxford declared that he was divorced from his wife, Muriel, little did he know the furor it would cause. In Jewish law, a wif...

When Henry III's son  Edmund Crouchback was 23 years old, he pledged to go on crusade with his brother, Edward, and a cousin, Henry of ...

The citizens of London may have welcomed their new queen when she and Henry III rode to Westminster for the coronation after the wedding (12...

Ramon Berenguer V, Count of Provence (1198 - 1245), and Beatrice of Savoy (c.1198 - c.1267) had four daughters, all of whom married kings. T...

Simon de Montfort was in control of London in April 1264. Northampton was under siege by supporters of King Henry, and Simon assembled his ...

Richard of Cornwall was only two years younger than his brother Henry, who became King of England. He rebelled against Henry a few times, u...

Ranulf de Blondeville died in October 1232 without leaving an heir to the title Earl of Chester , so King Henry III needed to choose one. Fo...

The Joust was a specific kind of tournament , and was one of the few types of military contests that had to be on horseback and involved on...

Despite Hubert de Burgh's support of Henry III at the start of his minority reign, the two had fallen out and Hubert was in danger. Ul...

When King John of England died on the night of 18/19 October 1216, he was in the middle of warring with his barons, who wanted more control ...

Things seemed to be going well for Ralph Neville , the Bishop of Chichester and Lord Chancellor for life. He had a nice new manor on New Str...

Ralph Neville is an example of a powerful figure in Medieval English administration whose personal details are little known. He was ordained...

Bread was so important to daily life, as food and even as tableware . Not every household had the time and resources to make its own bread,...

The murder of a child is a particularly heinous act that tugs at the heart strings. In the eyes of society, the murderer of a child must be ...

When Simon de Montfort wanted to kick off the Second Barons War , he needed funding. One of the easiest ways for most medieval Europeans to ...

By the early 1260s, Oxford had become a place where scholars went to teach and learn . Violence was not unknown, as conflicts between studen...

St. Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430) was one of the most influential writers in Christianity in its first few centuries. He believed that Jews...

Matthew Paris (c.1200 - 1259) was a Benedictine monk at the Abbey of St. Albans, known to us for his numerous illustrated written works. We ...

Henry III's most loyal and powerful supporter was William Marshal , but William's son was not of the same mind. Richard Marshal (119...