Medieval

Pelayo at the Battle of Covadonga, illustration, 1900. akg-images/Heritage Images.

Pelayo: the Reluctant Visigoth and the Reconquista

Pelayo, King of Asturias, is Spain’s first national hero, credited with beginning the Reconquista with his victory at the Battle of Covadonga. What do we really know about him?

A hunter with a beaver biting off its testicles. Miniature from the Physiologus, 14th century. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich. Public Domain.

Searching for the Soul of the Beaver

Are beavers beasts or fish? For medieval philosophers, this was an important question with implications for the dining table.

Rulers misleading their people, from the Discussions of Varro by Maïtre François, c. 1475-80. KB, National Library of the Netherlands. Public Domain.

‘The Crowd in the Early Middle Ages’ by Shane Bobrycki review

A tool for tyrants... or their undoing? The Crowd in the Early Middle Ages by Shane Bobrycki crafts a history for the medieval mob.

Marginal illustration showing the expulsion of Jews, the Rochester Chronicle, 1355. British Library/Bridgeman Images.

Edward I’s Destruction of England’s Jews

The first year of Edward I’s reign saw waves of strictures placed on a Jewish community in an already perilous situation. It set the path to their expulsion.

Henry II, Young Henry, and Richard I, from Historia Anglorum, 1250-59. British Library/Bridgeman Images.

Who Was the Real Henry III?

What makes someone a king? More importantly, what unmakes a king? Henry II’s experiment in co-kingship saw one Henry III fall and another rise.

‘A Perspective View of the City of Naples’, by Thomas Bowles III, 18th century. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. Public Domain.

‘Naples 1343’ by Amedeo Feniello review

Naples 1343: The Unexpected Origins of the Mafia – Amedeo Feniello’s history of the Camorra – has this much in common with the case against them: it’s all about the evidence.

The Danish fleet, from the Miscellany on the life of St. Edmund, Bury St Edmunds, c.1130. Bridgeman Images.

Who was Thorkell the Tall?

A viking mercenary who fought on three sides, who was Thorkell the Tall?

Diogenes in the Book of Good Morals, by Jacques le Grant, 15th century. Musée Condé, Chantilly/Bridgeman Images.

‘The Green Ages’ by Annette Kehnel review

Can The Green Ages: Medieval Innovations in Sustainability by Annette Kehnel find anything worth recycling in medieval modes of living?

Manuel II Palaiologos meeting with Henry IV, from the St Albans Chronicle, late 15th century. Lambeth Palace Library/Bridgeman Images.

A Christmas to Save the Byzantine Empire

Henry IV had a special guest for Christmas in 1400: the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos. United by their Christian faith, they were nonetheless on separate sides of the East-West schism. How did they celebrate?