Daily Medieval

Walter de Coutances was a courtier and then Archbishop of Rouen whose life was tied up in the careers of three kings of England: Henry II, ...

As we saw in yesterday's post, Venice was able to coerce the members of the Fourth Crusade to winter over in Zara (a Dalmatian city now ...

The influence of Byzantine art and culture on Italy (especially in the 13th century) was discussed yesterday , and I referred obliquely to a...

Giovanni Gualberto (c. 985 – 12 July 1073) was not the sort of person you would expect to found a monastic order. A nobleman born in a castl...

In a message for the World Day of Creation (27 June, 2024), Pope Francis said of Joachim de Fiore that he  "was able to propose the ide...

The Almohads were a North African Berber group who founded an empire in the 12th century. By 1159 they had extended their power over the Ma...

King Alfonso IX of León (1171 - 1230) may be noted for calling the Three Estates together to advise him—the first such gathering in Western...

John of Brienne never expected to be a king, or even a lord. He was born about 1170 to Count Erard II of Brienne and Agnes of Montfaucon, a ...

Francis of Assisi , prior to his episode on the Fifth Crusade , traveled to Rome with his followers to request of the pope permission to fou...

One piece of evidence that supported the idea of Spontaneous Generation in the Middle Ages was the case of the barnacle goose. (See the thi...

The Waldensians are a Christian protestant group that originated in the Middle Ages and still exists, having survived—sometimes through seve...

Canonical Hours were fixed times during the day for prayers. The Bible was the source for planning multiple times during the day for prayer....

Were the Crusades successful? If the objective as stated was to put Jerusalem under Christian rule and maintain  that rule, then the Crusade...

Peter Lombard (c.1096 - July 1160) was the Bishop of Paris and the author of Four Books of Sentences  which became the standard theological ...

The Cathar symbol The Cathars were a heretical sect that first appeared in historical records of Europe about 1143. In truth, the term ...

Saint Albert of Jerusalem was born Albert Avogadro in 1149 in Italy. He became one of the Canons Regular (Dominicans) after studying theo...

[see Part 1 here ] From Venice to Zara, and later to Constantinople Those members of the 4th Crusade who went to Venice were lodged ...

The Kingdom of Jerusalem, established after the First Crusade by Europeans, had been re-conquered by Saladin in 1187. Much of that was rec...

Plaque on the site of Montfort's death Simon de Montfort has been mentioned before, opposing Henry III , but that was the 6th Earl ...

St. Felix of Valois Among other accomplishments, the Crusades created a large number of Christians held captive by non-Christians. These...