Our modern university is a direct descendant of the Medieval institution. Of the many differences between these early centers of education and our modern ones (eg, only dudes allowed), there are some significant similarities. You can see from this illuminated illustration from 1400 that the lecturer up at the podium to the left is not […]
Medieval University Students Read More »
Cats hunting for mice in a medieval manuscript. Although most medieval written records about cats viewed them in purely functional terms, many nuns and monks kept small animals as pets that they felt affectionate for.
Medieval Cats Manuscript Read More »
They don’t look sexy, but this is the hottest medieval couple in medieval history. Peter Abelard (in his 30s) seduced the young (17) and brilliant Heloise by deliberately making her his private student. They had a physically, intellectually, and emotionally intense affair before Heloise’s uncle had Peter castrated in revenge for the seduction.
Peter Abelard and Heloise Read More »
This shipwreck puts a new spin on how historians think about the earliest century of Islam. The usual story is that the decades after Muhammad’s death witnessed a real collapse of trade in the former Roman Empire we now call Byzantium. But this wreck, called the Ma’agan Michael B (or MMB) ship, suggests that eastern
Early Islamic Trade Read More »
These are Jewish pendants of protection against the demon Lilith. In “The Alphabet of Ben Sirach”, a medieval Jewish text, the legend appeared of Lilith as the first wife of Adam who refused to have sex in a submissive position – because she chose to leave Adam rather than submit, 100 of her demon children
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Al-Biruni’s phases of the moon. Fitting image for the lunar eclipse tonight. Biruni was one of the geniuses of astronomical investigation, active in the 11th century during a Golden Age of Islamic science.
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The Knights Templar built the magnificent Castle and Convent of Christ in Tomar, Portugal, in the 12th century. But when the military religious order was dissolved and its members routed and killed after 1319, the kings of Portugal made Tomar a refuge for the monastic knights, changing their name to the Order of Christ and
Tomar, the Castle and Convent Where the Knights Templar Survived Read More »
Fans of Indiana Jones may remember the film about the Holy Grail, and the part where Indy needs to figure out which of the many ancient cups in front of him was the one Jesus drank from at the Last Supper. Of course, the answer was a drab and utterly innocuous vessel — to match
Nanteos Cup: Contender for the Holy Grail Read More »
It’s really difficult for me, dear readers, not to love the Whore of Babylon, the metaphor and shibboleth from the New Testament Book of Revelations. As a reminder, here are some lines from that apocalyptic book: “‘Come, I will show you the judgement of the great whore who is seated on many waters, with whom
Looking at the ridges and furrows of fields such as this, one can get a rare glimpse of what Medieval agricultural topography was like. The undulating patterns you see here were made hundreds of years ago above the settlement of Wood Stanway in Medieval England. There are two big reasons why the landscape still looks
Wood Stanway and How the Black Death Changed England’s Landscape Read More »
This sculpture, coming from a porch from the abbey church at Moissac and dating between 1120-1135, shows a woman in hell being tortured for her sins of lust. Her long hair, draped over her face, draws attention to her sexual moral depravity, as two snakes bite her breasts as they coil around her genitalia. On
Moissac Sculpture, Women, and Medieval Sodomy Read More »
This butterfly I photographed today at the Hershey Butterfly House likely belongs to the genus “Heliconius”, aka “the longwings.” But it looks very similar to the one illustrated in a 15th-century Medieval French Manuscript which scholars have identified as an “Aglais urticae” or “Small Tortoiseshell”. Both the 21st century butterfly house and the Medieval painting
Medieval Butterflies Read More »
This 13th-century fresco illustrates the most influential forgery in history: _The Donation of Constantine_. See the dude in the gold dress with the red beard handing over what looks like a puffy triangle to the larger but thin Santa Claus-guy? That’s supposed to be the Emperor Constantine (4th century) giving Pope Sylvester the right to
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