Daily Medieval

Yesterday's post about "blue" jeans from Genoa mentioned indigo, a color dye that had to come from plantations in India until...

Mention "jeans" or "blue jeans" and someone will comment that they were patented in the 1870s by Levis Strauss and Jacob...

After the sack of Genoa by the Fatimids, the city started to recover. One avenue for commercial growth was the Crusades, and the First Crus...

In the 10th century, Genoa was becoming an important port on the Ligurian Coast in far northwest Italy. Their ships were trading with much o...

Actually, when Petrarch referred to Genoa as "la Superba" he meant "the proud one." Genoa, on the northwest coast of th...

After all the political turmoil , Valencia was possessed by James I of Aragon . He forced tens of thousands of Muslims to leave. There were ...

The takeover of the Taifa (Kingdom) of Valencia by the Almoravids lasted for a couple generations, and then there was swiftly shifting chao...

After the Almoravids were invited to help control Valencia by a usurping judge and were ultimately driven from the city by El Cid—Rodrigo D...

In 138 BCE, Rome founded a colony on the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The name means "strength" or "valor," a...

James I of Aragon worked tirelessly to expand his control over regions of the Iberian Peninsula (and north into Languedoc). Stories from t...

King James I of Aragon (2 February 1208 - 27 July 1276) was also called Jaume el Conqueridor , the "Conqueror," because he expand...

After James I of Aragon's first wife was annulled and second wife died , it seems he did not seek a third marriage. He had been, howeve...

The first marriage of James I of Aragon was to Eleanor of Castile. She was the daughter of King Alfonso VIII of Castile and Eleanor of Engl...

James I of Aragon  (2 February 1208 – 27 July 1276) was used by his father as a political tool. He was the only child of Peter II of Aragon ...

The subject of Jews and their treatment in the Iberian Peninsula has cropped up several times in this blog, regarding individuals like Isaac...

A cataract is a medical condition where the lens of the eye becomes increasingly cloudy, leading to blindness. You would think that the Midd...

John II of Aragon lived to the age of 80. He had been married twice, had a few children (one whom he treated poorly, a few who had better ...

The father of Ferdinand II of Aragon was John II of Aragon (1398 - 1479, pictured here). He had other titles as well, including King of Sici...

Although Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile were married, their two kingdoms did not become one. Sure, they worked in concer...

Ferdinand II of Aragon had many more titles. Throughout his 63 years (10 March 1452 - 23 January 1516) he was not only king of Aragon, Major...

Twelfth-century Castilian texts see the word morisco  as an adjective for Moorish people, and used it to refer to Muslims in general. Mediev...

The Spanish Inquisition had more concerns about converts than the regular Roman Inquisition , because the Iberian Peninsula had a larger pe...

While the Roman Catholic Church established the Inquisition in the 12th century to root out heresy, etc., some countries felt the need to c...

As Christianity expanded to different regions and with different authorities, philosophical discussions and policies and practices developed...

I've touched on the Malleus Maleficarum  ("Hammer of Witches") briefly before . It was written by a Dominican who was frustrat...

On 5 December 1484, Pope Innocent VIII issued a papal bull concerning witchcraft. Bulls are known by their opening lines, and so this one ...

When Cem, brother of Sultan Bayezid II, came to be incarcerated in Rome as the "guest" of Pope Innocent VIII , he had a very comfo...

When Bayezid II became sultan of the Ottoman Empire in 1481, he had a rival: his half-brother Cem (22 December 1459 - 25 February 1495). Ce...

Giovanni Battista Cibo was born in Genoa on 5 November 1432. His father was a prominent politician in Naples and then Rome, and Giovanni gre...