Daily Medieval

The Sack of Baghdad has been described as the single bloodiest event in the history of war. At the time, Baghdad was perhaps the greatest ...

In 1271, Edward, Duke of Gascony, went on a continuation of the Eighth Crusade that is sometimes called the Ninth Crusade and sometimes Lord...

Louis IX of France (1214 - 1270) was crowned at the age of 12 after his father Louis VIII "The Lion" died of dysentery coming back...

Although Geoffrey, the eldest and illegitimate son of Henry II, was problematic in his ecclesiastical appointment of Archbishop of York—plag...

The franc was coined by King John the Good in 1360 to help stabilize the currency in France and try to generate the millions he needed to pa...

This is the story of Philip of Courtenay (1243 - 15 December 1283). He was one of the Latin Emperors of Constantinople—the empire was establ...

The Disputation of Paris, a debate between four rabbis and a Jew-turned-Franciscan, began on 12 June 1240. There were 35 charges against the...

This blog made a reference to the Disputation of Paris years  ago , but never got around to any details. The Disputation was a debate betwee...

Blanche of Castile was born on 4 March, 1188, in Palencia in north-central Castile (Spain). Her father was King Alfonso VIII; her mother was...

I mentioned yesterday that Orleans University had its start in 1230 with teachers and students who fled from turmoil at the University of Pa...

King Louis IX of France could not convince any of the rulers of Europe to accompany him on a Crusade to free Jerusalem, which had been reca...

In 1244, allies of the Egyptian Mamluks, retreating westward from the advancing Mongols, stopped at Jerusalem long enough to recapture it f...

Saint Isabella, at a church in Paris Isabella of France (1224 - 1270) was the daughter of King Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile. Her b...

The Talmud [late Hebrew talmūd , "instruction"] is the body of Jewish civil and ceremonial law. It includes the Mishnah (exegeti...

Mamluk going to war, from a 14th century History of the Tatars The short answer to the question posed in the title is "slaves.&qu...

Among the western Europeans who traveled eastward and wrote of the wonders of "The Orient," we have mentioned William Rubruck  ...

A university meeting Today is the birthday of the founder of the Sorbonne. The Collège of Sorbonne is arguably the best-known college in...

Today is the anniversary of the death of Pope Gregory X. He has already been mentioned in Daily Medieval, but let's take a closer look a...

Everyone's heard of Marco Polo (1254-1324) and his travels with his Venetian uncles to the Far East. He was not alone, however, in leavi...