The Strange Speech of Sultan Valad
September 27, 2021
Michael Pifer— Sometime in the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century, a Sufi poet named Sultan Valad was trying his hardest to get out of delivering a public sermon. He… READ MORE
Category: Medieval & Renaissance History
The Life of Christina of Hane
February 2, 2021
Christina of Hane— Although it is somewhat embarrassing to write about how she overcame her enemy and how she kept the treasure of her chastity unstained, it is still a… READ MORE
Reflections on Africans in Gothic Sculpture, part 3
December 21, 2020
Erasure, Submission, Apotheosis Jacqueline E. Jung — Though hardly numerous, images of African men – often dressed in military garb, and always acting on behalf of established institutional powers –… READ MORE
The (Mis)Fortune of “Coga the Sheep”
October 30, 2020
Nick Groom— William Harvey’s understanding united conventional classical models with new post-Paracelsian thinking, investigating blood through physical observation and examination, rather than by deferring to ancient authorities. Following Harvey’s groundbreaking… READ MORE
Pigs At Work
October 22, 2020
Jamie Kreiner— When much of the human world was in lockdown this spring, the animal world seemed to come out of its own kind of quarantine. Dolphins had a holiday… READ MORE
Medieval Strategy? The Great “Leper Conspiracy” of 1321
September 11, 2020
Steve Tibble— Researching the development of the crusader states helped me appreciate the sensitive and sophisticated nature of medieval strategy. But it also demonstrated how extraordinarily disappointing human beings could… READ MORE
Reflections on Africans in Gothic Sculpture, part 2
September 10, 2020
Images of Justice and Power Jacqueline E. Jung — In the choir of Magdeburg Cathedral, the black Saint Maurice, carved and painted around 1250, stands with his co-patron Catherine as… READ MORE
Medieval Strategy? Do Fish Need Bicycles?
Steve Tibble— It is easy to see medieval warfare and politics as being long on activity, but chronically short on reflection. To misquote the 1970s feminist rallying cry, it is… READ MORE
Echoes of Edward in British Politics
August 28, 2020
Tom Licence— As Edward the Confessor lay dying in 1066, according to his contemporary biographer, he foresaw the Norman invasion and England’s downfall within a year. Sir Winston Churchill, in… READ MORE
The High Middle Ages
August 18, 2020
Steven Ozment— If experimentation and preservation characterized the early Middle Ages, self-discovery and definition marked the high Middle Ages (1000–1300). In this period Western people began to assert their identity… READ MORE
The Challenge of Casanova