Daily Medieval

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

John I Balliol (died 25 October 1268) was an English nobleman. He married Dervorguilla of Galloway, whose extensive lands (inherited from he...

Henry V (16 September 1386 - 31 August 1422) was King of England from 1413 until his death. For a time, in his youth, he was at Queens Colle...

Richard Rolle (c.1300 - 30 September 1349) was born to a North Yorkshire farming family. He showed promise as a young man and was sponsored ...

Roger Bacon was born about 1219 into a wealthy family in England. He attended classes at Oxford University, where he learned a love of scien...

From a feast at the University of Rochester Most readers of this blog will be familiar with the Boar's Head Carol. The version we...

Off the coast of Mystic, Connecticut is Enders Island. Only 11 acres in size, it is named for Dr. Thomas B. Enders, who purchased it in 191...

The Ulugh Beg Observatory Museum, built in 1970 Ulugh Beg is the more familiar name of Mīrzā Muhammad Tāraghay bin Shāhrukh (22 March 1...

Because medieval universities were often designed as breeding grounds for educated clerics, clerical robes were a standard form of dress....

A medieval market [ source ] The post on the laws of Maldon mentioned this: 10. On market day no man shall regrate, nor sell meat, fi...

Today is her feast day, as well as the anniversary of the St. Scholastica's Day Riot in Oxford. She was the twin sister of Saint Bene...

Deer park at Kentchurch Court, UK A royal prerogative in many eras and cultures was to be able to hunt where and when the ruler wished. ...

William Thorpe before Arundel, 1407; a case of heresy Yesterday's post discussed Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, and sugg...

When we think of the history of schools, we imagine an unbroken line of buildings and teachers and groups of pupils sitting on chairs or b...

[ DailyMedieval is on semi-hiatus for the holidays, and I am re-cycling some older posts .] The St. Scholastica Day Riot was one of the ...

The goal of Daily Medieval is to present a sampling of the infinite array of information about the Middle Ages in small, digestible amoun...

Early copy of the Sentences In the Middle Ages, The Bible was recognized as the most important book in existence. No book was more discu...

In 1135, upon the death of Henry I of England, his nephew Stephen of Blois (c.1192-1154) assumed the throne. All well and good, except tha...

The desirable treasure of wisdom and science, which all men desire by an instinct of nature, infinitely surpasses all the riches of the wor...

I have written about the Oxford Calculators , four men at Oxford University in the second quarter of the 14th century who made great strid...