Popes have bestowed golden roses on warriors, rulers, women – and, increasingly in recent decades, shrines.
Articles on Medieval Europe
Displaying 1 - 20 of 23 articles
It’s easy to say now that paying the Vikings to go away ‘didn’t work’. But this obscures the fact paying off one Viking band didn’t ensure another would stop coming.
Medieval Irish bees had a legal status because they were classified as domestic livestock.
From its earliest centuries, Christianity was bound up with politics, with frequent tensions between government power and religious authority.
Legends about Jesus’ early years that circulated in medieval Europe often drew on apocryphal texts.
Pointy shoes have been all the rage across cultures for centuries, and their role as status symbols continue today.
Long before zombies were stars on the big screen, they roamed medieval Europe.
A new textbook soon to be taught in Russian schools leans on the works of a 16th-century monk. It fits a pattern of ‘political neomedievalism’ by the Kremlin.
Women’s work may not have been glamorous, but it was vital to the workings of the pope’s court and surrounding city.
Surgery was rare and risky in the medieval period. Though medical options were limited, trans people were able to take transitioning into their own hands.
Travellers have always faced health hazards when far from home. Here’s what medieval people believed would keep them healthy.
The conclave system may seem dramatic, but it was developed after centuries of outside interference and looting.
Warrior-monks crusaded for Christianity throughout medieval Europe. Adding to the ongoing mystery surrounding the military order is their enigmatic seal.
Medieval writers and clerics condemned queer romance and gender-bending stories − but were often wary of even mentioning the topics.
Medieval Europeans thought about politics in terms of leadership and often criticized rulers for ‘tyranny’ − both in government and in the church.
European women’s rights expanded in early medieval cities, though they were still limited. Last wills and testaments were some of the few documents women could dictate themselves.
There is an obscure medieval legend that says once upon a time in Bethlehem, a child was born whose holiness was so great it required the slaughter of all the ‘sodomites’ in the world.
Medieval monks recorded hundreds of lunar eclipses. Centuries later, their descriptions are helping scientists unravel the role of volcanoes in historical climate change.
The Newport medieval ship is the most complete section of a 15th-century European vessel discovered to date.
A German town needed to relocate a medieval graveyard to build a parking garage. A positive side effect: Scientists got to sequence the DNA of Ashkenazi Jews who lived more than 600 years ago.
Top contributors
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Professor Emerita of Medieval History, University of Rhode Island
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Lecturer in Medieval History, The University of Queensland
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Professor of Political Science, Macalester College
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Associate professor, University of Bristol
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Associate Professor of English, University of Tennessee
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Professor of English, University of Dayton
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Research Fellow in the Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University
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Reader in the Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm University
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Senior Curator of Geosciences, Museums Victoria Research Institute; Monash University
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Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland
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Visiting Assistant Professor of English, Whitman College
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Professor of Genetics and of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
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Associate Professor of Population and Statistical Genetics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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Professor of History and Dean of Research Strategy, University of Divinity
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Ph.D. Candidate in English, University of Iowa