Daily Medieval

I mentioned yesterday that John of Salisbury was one of the medieval authors who understood  eclipses . He had a long career that I'll g...

So...Sandwich. Most people just think about the food item that shares its name, but it has had more history than that, and not just as a Cin...

There are plenty of examples of combs from centuries gone, and sometimes they are two-sided, with one side having the teeth extremely close ...

Lord Edward returned from the Ninth Crusade to a country that had not had a king in residence for a couple years. His father, Henry III, ha...

Henry II had conflicts with the Scotland, with Ireland, with Wales, with France, but the most difficult conflicts may have been with his fam...

The martyrdom and subsequent popularity of Thomas Becket  inspired several legends, which is not unusual. Since pilgrimages were popular i...

It's a rare medieval post that starts with a Star Wars reference, but here it is (spoilers!): when Obi Wan confronts Darth Vader, he war...

Thomas Becket rose from decent middle-class origins to the highest non-royal position in England. As Archbishop of Canterbury, however, hi...

When King Henry II of England saw his good friend and loyal Lord Chancellor become Archbishop of Canterbury, he assumed he had an ideal oppo...

17th century knife and fork There is a point in the movie Becket (taken from the play of the same name by Jean Anouilh) that introdu...

Every once in awhile, I decide to throw in bits and pieces that come my way but don't fit into a regular post. I did one here for the d...

Since we brought up Canterbury yesterday, and arguably its most famous archbishop, let us take a look at his predecessor, who was very much...

Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote  The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote  DailyMedieval doesn't usually talk about...

[For earlier history, see here .] Finding the origin of nursery rhymes can be unreliable, since one never knows how long a rhyme was circu...

Gervase of Canterbury (c.1141-c.1210) was a monk of Christ Church in Canterbury. He was ordained on February 16, 1163 by Archbishop of Cante...