Daily Medieval

After Genseric of the Vandals took over Carthage and made it the Vandal capital, they started looting up and down the Mediterranean. Their ...

The Germanic tribe the Vandals made their way across Europe, into the Iberian Peninsula, and then to North Africa. There they clashed with ...

Isidore of Seville (c.560 - 636) wrote Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum ("History of the Kings of the Goths, Vanda...

When Jews were expelled from England (1290) and Sephardic Jews from Spain (1492) and other locations in Europe, many of them wound up in Nor...

In the earliest days of this blog, there were no illustrations. I eventually decided there were some posts that would be enhanced by an appr...

In 1194, Richard I of England created a system by which all financial transactions by Jews would be documented by the Crown. This system cre...

When Richard I of England was kidnapped coming back from the Third Crusade, the ransom was going to be enormous: 100,000 pounds of silver. ...

William Longchamp (or "de Longchamp") achieved success the old-fashioned way: he paid lots of money for it. That's not fair; b...

Anti-semitic riots at the coronation of Richard I cannot really be seen as an anomalous event: anti-semitism—even when not overtly practice...

During the coronation of Richard I , many citizens wanted to show their loyalty to the new king (and perhaps gain future favor) by giving hi...

Richard I of England was not his father. Not only did he rebel against his father and reject support of his father's favorites, but he...

What made Baldwin of Forde (c. 1125 – 19 November 1190) think his connections and his rise to the highest ecclesiastical position in England...

When Peter of Blois ' old law professor, Baldwin of Forde (pictured here outside of Canterbury Cathedral), became Archbishop of Canterbu...

Peter of Blois (c.1130 - c.1211) was well-connected; not through his family, but through people he knew growing up and going to school. One ...

The earliest settlement in Salisbury was Old Sarum, and by "earliest" we mean starting at c.3000BCE. Around 400BCE a hill fort was...

Although he presided over the founding of one of the grandest cathedrals in the United Kingdom, Bishop Richard Poore (in my opinion) should ...

The Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as Salisbury Cathedral, is noted for having the tallest church spire in England,...

The word grotesque  does not appear in that form until the 1560s, though now it is used to refer to illustrations and carvings from much ear...

Large stone buildings intended to last for centuries, such as examples of Gothic Architecture , would be exposed to ages and ages of rainwat...

Among other events of which he was a part, Richard Barre also was present in 1179 in Rouen for the display of the body of the 7th century b...

Richard Barre was likely Norman by birth, probably born at La Barre (hence the name) in northern France c.1130. He studied law at Bologna (i...

Sometime in the 12th century, an unusual find in Suffolk produced one of the Middle Ages' greatest mysteries. The event was recorded by ...

Widukind (seen here as a memorial in Hereford, Germany) was a Saxon leader who organized the chief opposition to Charlemagne's conquest...

The Saxon Wars (see Part 1 ) were a series of campaigns led by Charlemagne to incorporate and Christianize Saxony. A first phase was complet...

In January of 772CE, a church in Deventer in the Netherlands was sacked and burned by Saxons who objected to missionary work in their lands....

After the killing of Vikar  and receiving the blessing of Odin and the curse of Thor, the (giant?) warrior Starkad joined a Danish viking ra...