Daily Medieval

If the Iranian Empire under the Sassanian Emperor  Khosrow I  (531 - 579) had an official religion, it would be Zoroastrianism . In fact, Kh...

The ideas put forth by Nestorius survived him and his condemnation as a heretic, mostly in the East. Those who disagreed with the Council o...

It is time to talk about Nestorianism, the man who started it, and the fact that even though it was declared heretical it lasted in areas un...

The pull of a religious and contemplative life drew many men and women to it from many spheres. Maximus (c.580 - 662), for instance, was a c...

Pope Honorius III (fl.1216 - 1227), in a letter dated 20 June 1221, referred to "forces coming from the Far East to rescue the Holy Lan...

That "inaccessible area" in Asia mentioned in the Finding Paradise entry fascinated Europeans. Knowledge of the lands to the ea...

Silk was not a medieval invention. According to Chinese tradition , Empress Si-Ling-Chi in 2460 BCE watched silkworms spinning cocoons; she ...

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...