Daily Medieval

On 10 October 732, the next attempt by the Umayyad Caliphate to invade Gaul was stopped at the Battle of Tours. This was the second attempt...

The expansion by the Umayyad Caliphate brought Muslims into the first major conflict with Western Europe in 721 CE. The Umayyads had alread...

After the Rashidun Caliphate came the Umayyad Caliphate in 661 CE, with a dynastic rule starting with Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan, the governor ...

After the death of Muhammad in June 632, his followers discussed who should carry on his message to all parts of the world. Muhammad's c...

Abu Hurairah (c.603 - 681) was a companion of Muhammad whose name (as it comes down to us) means "Father of the Kitten" because of...

Dick Whittington 's cat might have made his reputation according to the legend , but cats were not always a welcome sight in the Middle ...

Dick Whittington (c.1354 - 1423) passed into popular literature because of a story about him and his cat. It was actually about 150 years a...

One of the most prominent mayors of the City of London in the Middle Ages (and perhaps of all other eras) was Richard Whittington. He was bo...

In listing the Great Twelve Livery Companies of medieval London in the order of preference given to them, I deliberately skipped over explai...

Of all the livery companies in medieval London, 12 were considered the most important and influential. They were collectively referred to a...

The word "livery," from the French livrée , "dispensed, handed over," refers to some identifying mark or clothing that d...

The Guild of Pepperers was established as early as 1180, and was responsible for the quality of spices and the setting of weights and measur...

The Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē, "storehouse") became Latin apotheca  and gave us the English word apothecary, used for both ...

...and the Poison of Kings are two nicknames given to arsenic. As early as the Bronze Age, the mineral arsenic was added to bronze to make i...

We talked a little about the history of poison here , but now it's time to look at what Medieval Europe had at hand for killing enemies....

The use of poison—a toxic substance deliberately introduced to a living creature for the sake of incapacitating or killing it—is found as ea...

The earliest version of the game now called "real tennis" (or court tennis or royal tennis) was jeu de paulme , literally "pa...

Poor Louis X of France! He became king after his father's death, but he did not have an heir. (Well, he did , but she was a daughter, so...

The Avignon Papacy, when the French Pope Clement V decided to move the papal headquarters from Rome to Avignon, was not a simple change in ...

In the early 13th century, Philip II of France fortified Paris with four large guard towers. The Tour de Nesle (the "s" is silent...

In 1325, Queen Isabella went to see her brother, King Charles IV of France, to negotiate over Charles' seizing of King Edward II's ...

Isabella of France (c.1295 - 1358) was a queen whose father and three brothers all became kings. Although she was used for a political marri...

Isabella of France was the only surviving daughter of King Philip IV of France and Joan I of Navarre, promised to the Prince of Wales (later...

Hugh le Despenser the Younger was an able administrator and close friend and advisor of King Edward II , who had made Hugh his chamberlain. ...

One of the complaints about King Edward II of England by his barons was that he took the wrong people into his confidence and acted on thei...

In 1307, the Knights Templar were condemned in France by Philip IV and lost their possessions and lives. One of the accusations was that th...

Piers Gaveston , close friend and favorite of King Edward II , was exiled from England three times: once by Edward's father and twice by...

The coronation of Edward II on 25 February 1308 was marked by controversy. It was delayed a week, probably because Winchelsey, Archbishop of...