Daily Medieval

The earliest-founded monastic group that is currently part of the Benedictine Confederation is the Camaldolese Hermits of Mount Corona. It w...

The Rule of St. Benedict was very influential and led to the founding of many monasteries. It was also adopted by groups that started their...

Saint Miniato, or Minias, was an Armenian prince who made a pilgrimage to Rome in the 3rd century CE. his pilgrimage led him to become a Chr...

Although the Western European Middle Ages considered themselves thoroughly Christianized, they had plenty of un-Christian "lapses....

The Classical and Medieval (and Modern, if truth be told) Eras were wary of the world around them, teeming with supernatural forces that cou...

Besides being attractive and easily carved into jewelry, amber was considered special in many ways. Its special attributes were first descr...

Amber has been a material of desire since antiquity. We know now that it is 40 million-year-old fossilized tree sap, but in ancient times th...

Yesterday mentioned Wulfstan of Hedeby stopping at a place along the Amber Road. The Amber Road was a trade route (part of it shown here) t...

Long before the Prussian Crusades of later centuries, Alfred the Great of England sent his emissary, Wulfstan of Hedeby, to Prussia in 890...

The Prussians of the 13th century (and before) inhabited a region on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, speaking what is called Old P...

The Second Council of Lyon decided the ending the Interregnum was best done by selecting Rudolph I as King of Germany (and therefore Holy ...

There was more than one period of time called an Interregnum ("between reigns") when a ruler for a specific area was lacking. The ...

When the East-West Schism was over 200 years old, Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Paleologos (1224 - 1282) asked Pope Gregory X to help reun...

One of the differences in doctrine between the Western Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches that developed after the start of the Ea...

Pope Leo IX's actions in 1054 (through his delegate Cardinal Humbert, actually) were the catalyst for the great East-West Schism between...

When Byzantine Patriarch Michael I Cerularius made known to Pope Leo IX  what he considered erroneous practices on the part of the Roman Chu...

So many medieval popes were Italian (and maybe French) that it is unusual to find one with a German name, but France and Germany were essent...

Richardis of Swabia (c.840 - c.895) was the daughter of a count. That and her reputation for piety made her a suitable choice to marry Charl...

Although Charles the Fat seemed to have solved the problem of Viking attacks by converting Godfrid and bribing Sigfred to leave, the probl...

When Pope John VIII was threatened by Guy II Duke of Spoleto, who invaded the Papal States  in 880, he looked for help from the King of Ita...

First thing first: no one called him "the Fat" in his lifetime that we know of; it certainly wasn't in any contemporary record...

Long before a unified France, there were minor nobles always looking to expand into their neighbors' territories.  In 9th century Wester...

When King Boso of Provence died on 11 January 887, the only heir of his was the seven-year-old Louis III. Boso had ruled Provence, Upper Bur...

King Louis II of Italy was the emperor of the Carolingian Empire. He did not have a son to succeed him, but only a single surviving daughter...

Anastasius Bibliothecarius was born about 810CE, a nephew of Bishop Arsenius of Orte. At some point in his youth he learned Greek, which mad...

Adrian (792 - 872; shown here in a detail from a fresco in the San Clemente basilica in Rome) was a member of a noble Roman family, related ...

Technically, there were two of these synods, both held in Constantinople. One of them was called by Emperor Basil I, with the cooperation of...

Patriarch Photios I of Constantinople was vaulted to his position (which he held at two different times, 858–866 and 877–886 CE) because of...