Daily Medieval

[ source ] There is an ethnic subdivision of Jews called Sephardic Jews. "Sephardic" comes from the Hebrew  Sepharad , which r...

A new TV show started in 2013 and has proven popular enough that it has been renewed for a couple more seasons. It is called "The Vikin...

Medieval Occupations [ source ] In the Middle Ages, the lack of machinery meant any job that needed doing required someone to "get ...

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...

Control your pig! [ source ] The town of Maldon was mentioned recently as the site of a disastrous (for the Anglo-Saxons) battle. Maldo...

[ source ] In the Middle Ages, birthdays were not usually marked by the common people. They didn't keep calendars on the kitchen wal...

Kiev is in the news a lot lately, and it makes me think of Anne of Kiev, whose name at birth was Anna Yaroslavna, an 11th century queen of F...

From a 14th century manuscript Since Æthelred keeps getting mentioned here (most notably the past two days, due to the contested inherit...

Edward's murder at Corfe Castle The death of the 16-year-old Edward the Martyr in 978 was not one of England's finest moments. T...

One of the shortest reigns in the history of England was that of Edward the Martyr, from 975 until 978. Edward, who was born c. 962, was...

from Limburg Cathedral It is 17 March, and normally St. Patrick gets all the attention today, but he is not the only saint whose feast d...

Today is the 543rd anniversary of the death of Thomas Malory. While the year 1471 might be a little late for the Middle Ages, Thomas Malory...

Pope Innocent I was an early-5th century Italian pope. The Liber Pontificalis ["Book of Popes"] says he was the son of a man wh...

Little is known about Ida de Tosny, but she was likely the daughter of Ralph de Tosny (c.1130 - 1162) and Margaret Beaumont. Orphaned at a...

19th c. painting of William [ link ] The Battle of Damme (mentioned yesterday) was led by the 3rd Earl of Salisbury, a man named William...

A naval battle, from a ms. dated late 13th/early 14th century We are accustomed to summing up the reign of King John (1199 - 1216) as a ...

Reccared chairs he Third Council of Toledo (you can buy the poster ) Imagine being a king. You do your best for your country: Unite va...

Liuvigild on one of his campaigns detail from an ivory reliquary, 11th c. Liuvigild was mentioned yesterday as the Visigothic King in t...

Commentary on Job being given from Pope Gregory to Bishop Leander of Seville St. Isidore of Seville (c. 560 – 4 April 636) has been ment...

The much-disputed Crimean Peninsula On the north coast of the Black Sea, a peninsula extends from the southern part of Ukraine. If you l...

It was on today's date, 3 March, in 1284 that Wales was incorporated into England via the Statute of Rhuddlan. Wales had been connecte...

Detail, Allegory of Good Government Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 1338 The hourglass has become a symbol of medieval technology, one of our first...

Gaza is currently the largest city in Palestine with over a half-million inhabitants. Its history stretches back more than 3000 years, its...

Found on Pinterest...seriously The five-paragraph essay was treated as the cornerstone of English classes when I was growing up: it was ...

The various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms Poor Æthelbert! All the attention this blog gives him is in regard to wergild . He deserves attention f...

King Æthelbert of Kent (c.560-616) was first mentioned here in an explanation of wergild , the price paid by law for a man's death by...

St. Peter Damian, letter writer Peter Damian (c.1007 - 21 February 1072/3), the author of the Liber Gomorrhianus , was more than just a ...

PLEASE NOTE : This post should have a NSFW [ N ot S afe F or W ork] label. My apologies if this is not to your liking. Illumination fr...

St. Michael and All Angels, Haselbury Plucknett On 20 February 1154, a fight broke out over a corpse. The corpse "belonged" to...

Today is the anniversary of the death of Kublai Khan (1215 - 1294), grandson of Genghis Khan . During his 34-year reign (he was crowned on...