Daily Medieval

We are now in the Christian season of Advent, from the Latin adventus,  meaning "coming." It comprises the four Sundays leading...

We note with sadness the passing of Ray Tomlinson  on 7 March 2016, whose name and history are unknown to the general populace but whose in...

As best we can determine, Symposius was a 4th- or 5th-century author of the Ænigmata , a collection of 100 Latin riddles. The oldest known...

The inexpertly carved stone The city of Bath in England has been an important location for human beings for millenia. The spring there p...

Bernard of Septimania, whose fate interweaves the recent posts on Carolingian civil wars, married Dhuoda on 24 June 824. She bore him two so...

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 "...

When Philip IV of France convinced Pope Clement V that his campaign against the corruption of the Templars needed to be extended to all Te...

Frederick II of Sicily (1194-1250) has crossed the path of this blog more than once, but has not yet been featured. He declared the Edict ...

[ We had so much fun with the Jacob's Staff (well, I did), that I hope you don't mind talking so soon about another tool for more ...

After Jan Hus was executed for heresy in 1415 (Jan Hus has been discussed here and here ), his followers, called Hussites, continued to pro...

A leechbook was a collection of remedies, called so because a physician or surgeon was called a "leech." Bald's Leechbook is a...

The ultimate character witness Throughout several centuries and many countries, establishing your innocence or trustworthiness in a court ...

Hype aside, what do we know? The Middle Ages called what was happening "The Great Pestilence." The "Black Death" was...

Richard II (1367-1400) had all of the elegance and none of the political savvy or military skill required of a king of England in the 14th...