Daily Medieval

The inspiration for the Waldensians was when Waldes heard a troubadour sing about St. Alexius of Rome, a man whose situation was similar to ...

Tertullian in 220 CE wrote De Pallio  ("Concerning the Pallium"), in which he talks about clothing fashion in different countries....

  Pope Clement V, who approved the order to arrest all the Templars, had earlier told them to merge with the Hospitallers, since it didn'...

Icon of St. Genesius, commissioned by the Fraternity of St. Genesius There are several saints named Genesius in early Christian history...

Today is the anniversary of Attila the Hun's attack on the town of Metz in Gaul. In the 1st century CE, the Roman historian Tacitus ...

Art over the door of the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica I said on Monday that Pope Liberius was usually known for one thing—his part in t...

Cosmati floor, Westminster Abbey church, during a recent cleaning. When discussing the rebuilding of Westminster Abbey yesterday, I me...

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

After mentioning Fibonacci 's work, the Liber Abacus , it occurred to me that the place of the abacus in history deserved a little atten...

Far from being a complete intellectual vacuum in the years between the decline of Rome and the Renaissance, Europe experienced three distinc...

So if the phrase "Dark Ages" was coined by Petrarch to describe the loss/lapse of much classical learning and advancement since th...

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...