medieval history

Maps are the Record of Humans' Imagination of the World

by Meredith F. Small

World maps have always been made without regard for practicality. Useless for navigation or for demarcating ownership, they are imaginative and expressive of a society's view of the world—which makes them important. 

Recent Discovery Shows Women Scholars have been Hiding in Plain Sight of History

by Joel Marie Cabrita

Advances in imaging technology have revealed that an 8th century woman named Eadburg inscribed her name on the pages of a manuscript, claiming status as a woman of letters. The revelation also calls for more creative methods to find women scholars and assess their contributions. 

What Can a Medievalist Teach us about Jacinda Ardern's Resignation and Women in Power?

Eleanor Janega joins Matthew Gabriele and David Perry to discuss the erasure of women in history and the recurrent disbelief about women doing public things today. 

The Middle Ages Were Much Cleaner Than We Think

by Eleanor Janega

Our myths about medieval cleanliness are contradicted by mountains of evidence about the lengths people of all social classes went to to bathe. 

"Receptiogate" and the Bad Incentives in Academic Research

by Charlotte Gauthier

A case of academic theft that might otherwise be of interest to a handful of medievalists stands out because of the immense, bungling, cloak-and-dagger internet chicanery involved, but more importantly because it reveals the misbehavior incentivized by European research funding. 

Which Medieval Jewish Stories Need to Be Told?

by David M. Perry

The history of European Jews in the medieval period is unfortunately dominated by discussions of death that make violent antisemitism seem inevitable and inescapable. 

The Far Right's Embrace of Knights Templar is About Bigotry

by Thomas Lecaque

The Knights Templar's veneration by the right is like the adulation of neoconfederates or neonazis: the hate is the point. 

"I'm Not Racist, I'm Just Mad Amazon is Destroying Tolkien's Middle Earth with Black Hobbits"

by Mary Rambaran-Olm

Viewer complaints that Amazon Prime has defiled the author's fantasy vision with "wokeness" ignore the historical diversity of the medieval society on which Tolkien based his works. 

The Real Medieval Civil War that Inspires "House of the Dragon"

by Gillian Brockell

The Anarchy, an English war of succession that lasted from 1138 to 1153, is part of the narrative inspiration for the new fantasy series. 

Fantasy Series Take a Selective Approach to Historical Accuracy as an Excuse for Sexual Violence

Medievalist Eleanor Janega wonders whether the creators of the "Game of Thrones" universe use historical accuracy as a justification to show graphic violence; their insistence on verisimilitude flags in other areas. 

Safe Haven "Baby Boxes" are a Medieval Horror

by Maria Laurino

"As generations of twentieth-century Italian mothers and their children can attest, giving a woman no choice but to anonymously surrender her baby is a route to ruined lives."

On Beer, or, Why Chicks Rock

by Eleanor Janega

The history of brewing in medieval Europe reflects on the present in interesting ways from the inside of the pub. 

The Popular Medieval History Hated by Medievalists

by Daniel Lavery

"It’s the most prominent example of a type of book that fascinates me: The amateur/popular history of an entire field that’s largely beloved (or at least successful) outside of said field and widely loathed within it."

Questing for the Past

by Katherine Churchill

A nameplate in an 1864 edition of Gawain and the Green Knight led the author to discover the connections between a mythic medieval past and the Lost Cause ideology of Jim Crow Virginia. 

The Plague, in the Plague: Have Black Death Comparisons Taught us Anything?

by Peter Manseau

The author of a new novel of the Black Plague and the co-author of a revisionist book on the medieval period discuss the tendency to make "rainbow connections" between past and present that oversimplify events to give moral guidance. 

Was the Black Death Less Severe and Shorter than We Think?

by Adam Izdebski, Alessia Masi and Timothy P. Newfield

"While no two pandemics are the same, the study of the past can help us discover where to look for our own vulnerabilities and how to best prepare for future outbreaks. To begin to do that, though, we need to reassess past epidemics with all the evidence we can."

Trumpism is Drawing on Completely Mistaken Understandings of Medieval European History

"The Bright Ages" co-author Matthew Gabriele discusses the proliferation of medieval imagery in far-right circles and why it gets the history wrong. 

On Writing The Bright Ages

by David M. Perry and Matthew Gabriele

The authors of a new book reconsidering the history of the medieval world describe how the project came about and how the work of writing history benefits by collaboration.

Is the Anti-Pope Francis Rad-Trad Catholic Movement Headed to QAnon Territory?

by Joshua P. Hevert and Thomas Lecaque

"While the Middle Ages may feel very distant, the amping up of apocalyptic rhetoric in a struggle over the papacy and the direction of the church is very current."

Colin Morris, 1928-2021

Colin Morris identified the beginnings of the concept of individualism two centuries earlier than had previously been believed, part of a career of groundbreaking scholarship on the Middle Ages.