Medieval

Æthelstan gives away his sister, St Editha to Sigtrid, king of Northbria, watercolour byThomas Mattews Rooke after a stained glass window by Ford Madox Brown, 1909. Birmingham Museums Trust/Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. Public Domain.

‘The First King of England’ by David Woodman review

The First King of England: Æthelstan and the Birth of a Kingdom by David Woodman looks beyond the empty tomb to find perhaps the most consequential monarch of the Anglo-Saxon age.

Scene showing communion (left) and excommunication (right) from the Decretales of Giovanni d’Andrea, 13th century. Luisa Ricciarini/Bridgeman Images.

Get Out: Excommunicated in Medieval England

In 13th-century England excommunication was akin to spiritual leprosy. How did it work?

Christian conception of the universe, with the Earth at the centre, embraced by the realm of God and his angelic court. Woodcut from the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493. Bavarian State Library. Public Domain.

The Real Middle Earth

Though its meaning may have shifted over the centuries since its Anglo-Saxon origins, ‘middle earth’ is far from fantasy.

Map of Tunis by Abraham Ortelius, late 16th century. National Library of Israel. Public Domain.

The Islamic Ethics of the Wine Tax

The wine trade in medieval Tunis was lucrative, but it caused a moral quandary for the ruling Hafsids.

Pope Innocent III declaring the crusade against the Cathars and an attack on the Albigensians, miniature from the Grandes Chroniques de France ou de Saint Denis, 14th century. British Library/Bridgeman Images.

Hunting Heretics: Inside the Medieval Inquisition

More than 5,000 people were interviewed during the Great Inquisition of medieval Toulouse. What did this mean for those ordinary people called to give evidence?

St Matthew writing, the Lindisfarne Gospels, 710-20. British Library/Bridgeman Images.

Artificial Inspiration

Poets across the ages have sought help with their writing – but AI bears no comparison with the divine.

Bonfire Celebrating Midsummer Night, by Nikolai Astrup, 1912-26. Nasjonalmuseet/Børre Høstland. Public Domain.

Gods at the Margins: How European Paganism Survived

By the 14th century Christianity had swept many of Europe’s indigenous religions aside, but not all. At the continent’s peripheries paganism survived and, in some cases, thrived.