Thus horrific scene is a Medieval illustration of a group of people with leprosy being burned at the stake. Government authorities in southern France were consumed with mass hysteria in 1321, and rounded up scores of people with this disease — they were convinced that the lepers were planning on poisoning wells in order to
The Medieval Burning of Lepers Read More »
Here is a grim piece of testimony concerning the horrific ways that anti-Semitism played out in Medieval Europe, especially as the period went on. This is an illustration of the Third Crusade of Pastoureaux, or Shepherds’ Crusade, which happened in northern France in 1320. Trapped in a burning tower, Jews (identified by badges they were
The Third Crusade and Anti-Semitism Read More »
Here you are looking at a diagram of the Medieval universe. Or, a giant mystical vulva — your choice.In the Middle Ages, it was common to depict the macro-cosmos as a sort of expanded version of the micro, much like the fresco painted in the late fourteenth century by Piero di Puccio (4th slide), which
The Medieval Universe and Mystical Vulvas Read More »
The Morgan Picture Bible, a.k.a. “The Crusader Bible” is one of the pinnacles of 13th-century French Gothic illumination. Regardless whether it was commissioned by the saint-king Louis IX of France, as many art historians have argued, the 283 gorgeously painted illustrations certainly characterize the zeal of the crusader movement in Europe. In it, artists have
The Morgan Picture Bible Read More »
Look closely, and you’ll see if you squint . . . Not the holy hand grenade, but the Holy Lance! You know — the artifact that in the Christian Gospel of John was used by a Roman soldier to pierce the side of Jesus after he had died on the cross? (John 19:34). A quick
The Holy Lance of the First Crusade Read More »
These cages still hang from the Church of Saint Lambert in the German city of Munster. Empty now, for many many years they contained the decaying corpses of three religious leaders put to death in one of the many bloody conflicts of the Protestant Reformation era. In 1534-1535, Munster became an epicenter of the religious
The Cages of Germany’s Saint Lambert’s Church Read More »
The earliest date that humans first settled in the Americas is something anthropologists do not agree upon – yet. Although whole-genome DNA processing might someday shed more light on the subject, some scholars favor an idea that people first crossed the Bering Straights less than 20,000 years ago, while others argue for an earlier wave
Meadowcroft Rockshelter Read More »
Today while hiking, my friend Erin and I happily encountered a group of folks doing trail maintainace as part of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. This association has very long roots in the region, dating to 1927 when a group of people began with the goals to help build a section of the 2,100-mile A.T.
Potomac Appalachian Trail Club Read More »
In the Middle Ages, the lens of Christianity permeated the world view to a degree unimaginable today. We can see this with the descriptions and illustrations of animals like the lion, whom many authors considered king of the beasts. And, since they thought that God/Christ ruled over the universe, lions were compared symbolically to the
Some readers might remember the television show _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ from back in the day. The leading superhero Buffy constantly eviscerated all kinds of demons in her neighborhood in sunny southern California, because — unbeknownst to local residents — it was located right on top of a Hellmouth. Turns out, the show’s writers weren’t
Medieval Belief of Hellmouth Read More »
Knowledge about the existence of hormones was relatively new in the early 1900’s, but scientists were extremely interested in these self-manufactured chemicals that arouse or depress us, that make us grow or sleep or have sex, etc etc etc . . . This early stage of endrocronology was a sort of Wild West, and earnest
Hormones and Organotherapy Read More »
“Lilith” is a sculpture I would pay money to take a pilgrimage to see. Created by artist Kiki Smith in 1994 out of bronze and glass, the statue of Lilith crouches, tense and fierce. Her eyes stare out with a contact that seems physical.The stories of the demon Lilith emerged over hundreds of years, but
The Strong Feminism of Lilith Read More »
Today’s beauty industry did not invent the idea of valuing people for their external appearance, and the Ancient Greeks’ estimation for what made a fine behind seems pretty in line with contemporary models. Witness this famous first-century BCE Roman copy of a Hellenistic sculpture from 300 BCE. She is known as “Aphrodite Kallipygos” with “Kallipygos”
Ancient Greece and Contemporary Body Standards Read More »
The imposing walls of the Masyaf castle in Syria speak to the formidable command of its Medieval occupants. This was one of the fortresses run by the Nizari Ismaili sect of Muslims — better known as the Assassins.Run by a charismatic leader sometimes called “The Old Man of the Mountain” (also Hasan-e Sabbah), the Assassins
The Masyaf Castle of the Assassins Read More »
Ada Lovelace (d. 1852) lived a supremely Victorian aristocratic life: multiple estates, famous friends, and noble title? :check. Tragic illnesses that caused her to be bedridden and/or die young? : check. Relatives concerned with her propriety despite having an adventurous and spirited personality? : also, check. Called “The Enchantress of Number” by her friend and
Ada Lovelace – “The Enchantress of Numbers” Read More »
Sometimes, history is so weird I don’t even know where to begin. Strap in, people, because today’s post is about ideas Medieval people had about menstruation.The two illuminated manuscript illustrations both show graphic depictions of the wounds of Christ. And if you’re thinking that those pictures don’t immediately conjure up the side of Jesus, lanced
Medieval Menstruation and Jesus’s Wounds Read More »
A Roman (1st or 2nd c CE) and 12th-century examples of foliage faces that became known as “the Green Man.” For centuries, these carvings existed, adorning buildings, as a man’s face surrounded by leaves, or spewing greenery, or having hair that morphed into plants. But it wasn’t until folklorist Lady Raglan wrote an article that
The Folklore of The Green Man Read More »
Here’s a detail from a fresco by the early 15th-century painter Giovanni da Modena, showing Satan munching on some poor damned soul, while defecating some other poor damned soul from his mouth-sphincter. Eew. The grotesque body of the Devil would have been especially horrifying in light of the Medieval belief that Satan had once had
The Story of Lucifer’s Uprising Read More »
Many Ancient and Medieval ideas about how the human body worked seem laughable now, but before the science of molecular biology developed, a lot of conclusions just had to be conjecture (fueled also by cultural and confirmation bias). And that’s why – well into the early modern era – many scientists believed that menstrual blood
Early Modern Medical Idea of the Female Vein Read More »
Here is Nero, being a jerk watching his mom Agrippina get dissected. He killed her as well, making him a double-jerk. But what might be surprising about this Medieval scene is that the actual dissection of cadavers was an okay and not-considered-jerk behavior – in the right circumstances, of course. For a long period, historians
The Commonality of Cadaver Dissections in Late Medieval Ages Read More »
