The first known person to discover an element relied on pee and actually was looking for the Philosopher’s Stone. Henning Brand used up the financial resources of three people – himself, his first wife, and his second wife – in the focused pursuit of finding a way to turn base metals into gold. Alchemy favored […]
Alchemist Henning Brand and Phosphorous Read More »
This drawing shows Jesus as a child, taking the birds he has just shaped out of clay and turning them into real sparrows. It is a sweet story, part of a passage from a (possibly late first century) text known as “The Infancy Gospel of St Thomas,” never accepted as cannonical by the Church. We
The Infancy Gospel of Saint Thomas Read More »
Eighth-century Spain witnessed the conquest of the Christian kingdom of the Visigoths by Muslims and the fracturing of the Iberian peninsula into various kingdoms. It was in this era the Spanish monk Beatus of Liebana (d. 785) wrote a book called _Commentary on the Apocolypse_, and depicted here is an extremely rare painting from a
Conquest of the Visigoth Christian Kingdom by Muslims Read More »
“Greek Fire,” the famous naval weapon of the Byzantine Empire, was a liquid projectile that burst into flames after spewing out of pressurized nozzles, and kept burning as it floated on water. This is a twelfth-century illustration of Greek Fire in action. The eleventh-century historian Anna Komnene has a great description of the theatrics involved
Greek Fire by the Byzantine Empire Read More »
What you see here is an example of the finest type of Anglo-Scandinavian sculpture known as “Hogbacks.” After the Scandinavian viking invasions, Hogbacks emerged in the tenth century as a style of grave marker that reveals the Celtic influences of the British Isles along with the Danish homeland of the recent settlers. You can make
Anglo-Scandinavian Hogbacks Read More »
Astrolabes were the medieval version of a GPS. Although still fashioned today in various manifestations, the most famous versions were those created by Muslim scientists living in the Medieval Middle East. If you’ve ever seen one, this photo from the Islamic world circa 1480 CE might look different: usually astrolabes were two-dimensional celestial spheres. I
Medieval Middle Eastern Astrolabes Read More »
Structures known as Irish Round Towers, built from the late 8th-12th centuries CE, dotted the island in medieval centuries. The only monumental stone buildings in Ireland to come before the Normans invaded, the towers used to be thought to function as lookouts for Viking invasions. Historians now ascribe less martial functions to the buildings, thinking
Irish Round Towers Read More »
This painting from 1494 is possibly a depiction of the famed Lucrezia Borgia appearing as Saint Catherine of Alexandria. The oxymoronic nature of such a depiction is obvious if we have heard of the many legends (incest, poisonings, etc) of this _femme fatale_. Of course, many of the tales are completely unproven, and probably can
The Powerful Lucrezia Borgia Read More »
This photo of a Medieval staircase from Ballyhannon Castle in Ireland (c. 1490) shows a typical construction: the staircases were usually spiralled clockwise moving up, so that defenders could take the advantage using the center beam for protection, while attackers had a harder time using their sword-arms without exposing their bodies. An exception that proves
Medieval Clockwise Staircases Read More »
One of the earliest Medieval European depictions of an elephant as rendered by Matthew Paris in his Chronica Maiora II, 1235-1259. Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 16 f. 151v.
Medieval European Elephant Depictions Read More »
My last post talked about Rapunzel’s Syndrome, in which unfortunate sufferers eat their own hair. Since hair cannot be digested, a mass forms in the patients’ stomachs, often requiring surgery. There is a fascinating but gruesome silver lining to situations such as these, however, which is that sometimes these masses can congeal and take shape
The Creation and Desire for Bezoars Read More »
Medieval people had such a different mindset from us that understanding their thoughts and perspectives can feel like trying to hold a conversation with someone who’s standing across a river bank. The illuminated manuscript shown here shows a bald man separated by a wide stream from a young person in white. It is the only
Middle English Poem “The Pearl” Read More »
The writings of the Medieval theologian Peter Damian (d. 1072) reinforce the idea that the Middle Ages were an era with such religious devotion that all other sensibilities were eclipsed. In learning about the disdain for which Peter seemed to hold nearly everything unconnected to Christian doctrine, we can imagine that even his contemporaries would
Peter Damian’s Medieval Theological Writings Read More »
Maybe if you just ate you should skip on past this post, and don’t squint too hard at the image along the way . . . On the other hand (no pun intended), if you’ve decided to keep reading, then you might notice that the bright red figure on the bed is actually having his
The Flaying of Saint Bartholomew Read More »
This late 15th-c illustration shows a man preparing a mixture called “Theriac,” which for over a millennia was perhaps the most valued curative substance (or so it was advertised) across Eurasia. You can see the snakes unfurling under the man’s feet: they’re there representing the serpentine venom the ancient recipe demanded. Another crucial ingredient was
Mithridates and His Antidote Testing Read More »
One of the most important tools in the history of medical diagnosis has been urine. The examination of pee can legitimately be used to figure out whether a person is pregnant, or has diabetes, or kidney failure. For Medieval people, it was also thought to indicate widened “channels” into the kidney, which accidentally let blood
Medieval Urinalysis Read More »
Medieval Europeans lived far more isolated lives than we, and consequently, existed knowing there were vast tracts of lands and cultures to which they had no access. Tales about places necessarily depended on word-of-mouth, supplemented with rare but extremely popular travelogues. And so came to pass stories and legends about an unusual living thing, half-plant
The Vegetable-Lamb of Tartary Read More »
This is one of fifty copies left of the Gutenberg Bible, printed over 650 years ago. The volume symbolises a revolution in information transfer, because its movable type enabled the quick printing of books. Despite the forward-looking aspects of the Gutenberg Bible, it also symbolizes the Medieval culture from which it came. For instance, about
The First Mass Printed Medieval Book – The Gutenberg Bible Read More »
As the Middle Ages wore on, general attitudes about cats became increasingly negative. Although they continued to be kept as mousers and pets, they were associated with heresy, witchcraft, and the devil. Irina Metzler argues this was partly because even though they were domesticated, they wouldn’t obey their humans. In the early 15th century, Edward,
Negative Medieval Attitudes Towards Cats Read More »
Leprosy, or Hansen’s Disease, was a scourge for many throughout the European Middle Ages. Although it spreads slowly throughout a population, it was pervasive enough in England between the 11th and 15th centuries that at least 320 caretaking facilities for lepers were established during this time. In its advanced expression, leprosy causes lesions, sores, and
Leprosy During the European Middle Ages Read More »
