Daily Medieval

Among the many ancient books we have now thanks to Robert Cotton's hobby of collecting and cataloging medieval manuscripts, the British...

The 12th century saw a burgeoning of literature by figures whose names we actually know, like Marie de France and Chrétien de Troyes (menti...

Most of what we know about King Alfred the Great comes from a single manuscript copy from the Cotton Library , Vita Ælfredi regis Angul Sax...

It is not inappropriate—in fact, it is mandatory for a historian—to question the assumptions that come down to them from the past.* So when ...

Whan Adam delf, and Eve span, Wo was thanne a gentilman? This was part of a sermon allegedly delivered in Blackheath the night before that g...

Vellum—fine parchment made from the skin of a calf—is more durable than paper. Even so, manuscripts that survived for centuries are precious...

In the previous post, I mentioned that a certain name showed up in the Liber Vitae , a title which literally means "Book of Life" ...

The Vercelli Book, opened to "The Dream of the Rood" The post on The Exeter Book mentioned that it was one of four sources of...

Today presents many opportunities to tie into previous posts. It is the date of the deaths of St. Rémy in 533, of Abbot Suger in 1151. I...

We know that books were rare prior to the development of the movable type printing press, but they weren't unknown. They could be a st...

Melrose Abbey, on the Scottish border, mentioned in connection with St. Cuthbert , is historically significant for other reasons. Many Sco...

In 1390, King Richard II of England had his master chefs assemble a book of all their best recipes. This Forme of Cury (Forms of Cooking) w...

Sir Robert Bruce Cotton was born 22 January, 1570 (or 1571). Too late to be part of the Middle Ages, but still a subject for this blog; you&...