Daily Medieval

This is worth knowing. A bear hunter hugging a bear? Early 16th c. German "Geese Book" Sarah Laseke, writer of a medieva...

King Louis IX of France could not convince any of the rulers of Europe to accompany him on a Crusade to free Jerusalem, which had been reca...

In 1244, allies of the Egyptian Mamluks, retreating westward from the advancing Mongols, stopped at Jerusalem long enough to recapture it f...

Saint Isabella, at a church in Paris Isabella of France (1224 - 1270) was the daughter of King Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile. Her b...

Glastonbury is a small town in Somerset, England, that has been inhabited since Neolithic times. A recent post discussed the discovery of ...

In 1977-79, a shipwreck off the southern coast of Turkey was investigated. It was determined to have sunk about 1025. The ship's hold c...

A 1568 German woodcut showing a shoe shop Which guilds were the biggest? Not the most powerful, but those with the most members? Let...

Women weaving Guilds in the Middle Ages seemed to exist for every conceivable occupation (except, perhaps,  midwifery ). What about wom...

Guilds, companies of folk who follow the same occupation, are associated with the Middle Ages. They actually existed in the Roman Empire. C...

Everyone knows about the Templars, or Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon. Their avowed goal was to protect travele...

One of the very first posts on this blog years ago was about the collapse of the powerful Florentine banking corporation, the Bardi . One o...

The Cathars, mentioned yesterday, were a largely peaceful group that attempted to lead lives of Christian simplicity, rejecting the materia...

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

When Guy de Chauliac mentioned midwives in his great work on surgery, it was only a mention: he declined to express details because the ...

Copy of the Pact [ source ] The Pact of Umar is a document that outlines rights and restrictions for Christians living in Muslim-held ...

...Onager, Mangonel, Springald, Polybolos—all words for devices that propelled heavy objects toward an enemy; not to mention Cheiroballista...

We note with sadness the passing of Ray Tomlinson  on 7 March 2016, whose name and history are unknown to the general populace but whose in...

Abu ʾl-Qasim Ferdowsi Tusi (940 - 1020) was a Persian poet, creator of the longest single-author epic poem in the world. The poem in questi...

In The Forme of Cury  cookbook from Richard II's court, there is a recipe for "Rapes in Potage," "rapes" meaning tu...

The Smithfield Decretals have been mentioned recently. They are a book of decrees drawn from 1,971 letters from Pope Gregory IX, with glos...

Yesterday mentioned the Smithfield Decretals , a detailed work on ecclesiastical law. It was produced in the 14th century, full of importan...

Following on the heels of yesterday's discussion of Leap Day, I thought we should give some attention to the poor saint whose feast day...

Bernard of Botone (d.1266) gloss on Leap Day Most of you know that Julius Caesar in the 1st century BCE wanted to fix the fact that sol...

One of the questions we have about the numerous books that were created in the Middle Ages is: how did they turn animal skins into parchmen...

We have looked at some of the possible reasons for dating Christ's birth to December 25th, but how early was that dating settled upon?...

Was December 25th the default date for Christmas because of a Roman Saturnalia or because of deliberate copying with Mithraism? Connected...

Sunrise on the Winter Solstice at Stonehenge Sol stitium  [Latin: "sun standing still"] is the origin of the Modern English s...

Here is a description of a medieval cult: At length, when the novice has come forward, [he] is met by a man of wondrous pallor, who has b...

Although Pope Gregory IX felt it his duty to protect the Jews , he had issues with their Talmud, the collection of Jewish laws and practice...

The Talmud [late Hebrew talmūd , "instruction"] is the body of Jewish civil and ceremonial law. It includes the Mishnah (exegeti...