Many folks will soon celebrate Easter, and so I invite you to fall down the best sort of rabbit’s hole and investigate — Medieval bunnies! And sex, purity, hermaphrodites, and the Virgin Mary, because those things all co-existed in Medieval and Early Modern culture. The painting here, the “Madonna of the Rabbit,” painted by Titian […]
Easter Bunnies and Fertility Read More »
The Dep*rtment of G*vernment Eff*ciency, or DOGE, is a (currently) temporary organization that is not a Cabinet-level department of the U.S. government. Read the news to catch up on that one, but it’s not an accident that M*sk has embraced this acronym. Unlike his boss, M*sk is smart, and it is extremely unlikely that the
Continuing with posts celebrating Black History Month, I bring you the artistic tradition of St Maurice in the Middle Ages. This beautiful sculpture of Saint Maurice resides at the Cathedral of Magedeberg and dates to the first half of the 1200s. Dressed as a soldier in chainmail, the figure clearly shows Maurice as an imposing
Black History Month is a wonderful occasion to talk about the legacy of the “Black Madonna” in Western European Medieval art. You are looking at one of the most revered statues from Medieval Spain, known as the Virgin of Montserrat, located in Catalonia and probably dating to the 12th century. Her skin and that of
Here is an example of a heavy wheeled plow, and if you’re thinking “so what?,” that might be because the ubiquity of our modern technology has made us jaded to more ordinary-looking inventions. But this plow was responsible for allowing major agricultural change in the Middle Ages, as a recent study focusing on farmland in
Agricultural Technology in Medieval Denmark Read More »
This is one of the most iconic scenes in Medieval art history: the death of King Harold at the Battle of Hastings of 1066 which sealed the deal for the Norman conquest of England. The embroidery here is of course the famous Bayeux Tapestry, created about a decade after that famous battle. And academics have
The Death of King Harold Read More »
“Sail to great Byzantium” (“Angels we have heard on high”)Sail to great Byzantium, eastern base of Ancient Rome.At the capital you’ll see St. Sophia’s massive dome.(Refrain): Goooooooooooold iconsBehold the great cityGoooooooooooold iconsHung up on the city wallsSilken robes the people wearFinest fabric anywherePurple color oh so rareRuler’s sign for those who bear(Refrain)Chariots in Blue and
“Sail to the great Byzantium” Christmas Carol 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 »
Each year, I write historically themed Christmas Carols, and this year’s is about the society of the Early Medieval epic poem _Beowulf_. Enjoy! “Hwaet! Gear-Dagum (Sings the poet)” to the tune of “Deck the Halls (with Boughs of Holly)” “Hwaet! Gear-Dagum,” sings the poet./ Gather ’round and hear/ The tale I tell.// Danish thegns win
Historical Christmas Carol – “Hwaet!” Read More »
Happy Holiday Season to all. Here comes the final historically themed Christmas Carol of 2019: “In an Old-English Leechbook” (to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas) In an Old-English Leechbook, scribe Baldy wrote to me: “a cow stomach will help you see.” . . . When the moon was waning crescent my lunaria
Historical Christmas Carol – “In An Old-English Leechbook” Read More »
Readers of this post might remember a recent article illustrating the way menstrual blood and images of vaginas paralleled the wound in Christ’s side in Medieval culture. (I promise I am not making this up.) A few posts later, I showed that before Europe’s scientific revolution, anatomists thought that breast milk was menstrual blood that
Medieval Belief that Jesus was a Mother Read More »
The bodhisattvas in the Mahayana tradition of Buddhism are those who believe that until everyone is free, no one is free. Although enlightened, they willfully choose to forgo nirvana, and instead allow themselves to be reincarnated into this mortal coil. They do this of course, because beings of such great compassion would only want nirvana
Bodhisattva Guanyin Read More »
In the remote grassy highlands of northern Ireland is the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church. There, three disprate landmarks – a cross, a grave, and some special dirt – tell a story about hope for an end to suffering.From the Medieval past, the tenth-century Boho High Cross depicts scenes from the Biblical Book of Genesis
Northern Ireland’s Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church Read More »
I am going to do a magic trick for you — take a look at the two photos here: one is a 15th century painting of a Locust, and the other is Ernie Chambers, the longest-serving state senator of Nebraska (46 years and counting). And my hocus pocus will be to show how these two
The Similarities of a Locust and Senator Ernie Chambers Read More »
Still developing my posts “on the horrendous deaths of leaders gleefully described by the historians and chroniclers who hated them,” I bring you the grizzly tale of the Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros I. You can see him here in this painting — not the one with the crown on the left, though. Rather, Nikephoros — or
Emperor Nikephoros and His Enemies Read More »
Those who know me, know that each year in lieu of holiday cards, I write historically themed Christmas carols. And this year, I give you the following, sung to the tune of “Good King Wenceslas”.When the plague spread all about/ thirteen-forty seven.Buboes pussing, fevers out/ Time to bury your kin.Philip tried to find the cause/
A Bubonic Plague Inspired Christmas Carol Read More »
I hope yunz’ all can appreciate baby-killing demon-goddesses as much as I do. They appear in so many cultures, and explain so much about women’s fears (like being the worst sort of woman — a) one who murdered children and b) hadn’t been able to manage her love affairs with a man in socially-acceptable ways.).
Protection from Lilith in Traditional Jewish History Read More »
Harry Potter fans might recognize this plant from a seveth-century Italian herbal: it is a mandrake, or in Latin, “mandragora.” So named because Ancient and Medieval Europeans thought the way that its root resembles a man (or a woman, see illustration three) was just so extra, the mandrake gained a reputation for producing effects far
The Mandrake Root in European History Read More »
If you wanted to get ahold of the most important book of magic in the Middle Ages — I mean, inspire-the-most-fantasy-Buffy-the-Vampiresque sorts of spells magic, replete with demons, charms, incantations, arcane use of astrology, etc., then you would have to look no further than the _Picatrix_.It sounds like the name of a Pokemon, but Picatrix
“Picatrix” the Middle Ages Book of Magic Read More »
Here is Terry Jones of Monty Python fame in one of the very best comedic moments in film IMHO — he’s performing as a desert hermit whose vows of silence and harsh lifestyle are broken after the man called Brian accidentally leads a crowd of people to the shallow pit he had been dwelling in
Monty Python and Symeon the Stylite Read More »
