Religion

A farmer gives milk from the holy cow to Hindus, Parsees and the British, by Ravi Varma, c. 1848-1908. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain.

Why Do Religions Decline?

The spiritual marketplace is crowded – is there something Darwinian about it?

The Ehemann organ in the Holy Trinity Church, Ulm, 1643. Kartensammlung Moll. Public Domain.

Why the Organ Split the Church

Indulgent symbol of papist excess or mouthpiece for God’s second greatest gift? What place was there for the organ in the Reformation church?

The Sick, the leprous, and the lame praying at Saint Hedwig's tomb, from the Vita beatae Hedwigis, 1353. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Ms. Ludwig XI 7, fol. 87v, 83.MN.126.87v. Public Domain.

The Pilgrim as a Historian

Pilgrimage is not meant to be easy, but it remains a popular pursuit – even for non-believers.

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?

Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, from the Regensburg Pentateuch, c.1300. Israel Museum, Jerusalem/The Ridgefield Foundation, New York, in memory of Henry J. and Erna D. Leir/Bridgeman Images.

‘Who Really Wrote the Bible’ by William M. Schniedewind review

Who Really Wrote the Bible: The Story of the Scribes by William M. Schniedewind asks what authorship meant to the hidden hands behind the Old Testament.

Carthusian monks at the dining table, from an account of rules of the Carthusian Order, the Netherlands, 15th century. British Library/Bridgeman Images.

The Violent Life of the Medieval Monks

Meant to live a life of perfect peacefulness and contemplation, in reality monks were human and fallible. How violent could life in the medieval cloister be?

An auto de fe in Valladolid, 1558. Print attributed to Claes Visscher, 1596-1652. Opposite: an auto de fe in a courtyard, by Sebastián de Herrera-Barnuevo, 1619-71. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Public Domain.

The Ballad of the Inquisition’s Greatest Witch Trial

How a lost ballad detailing the Inquisition’s sentencing of 28 alleged Basque witches spread a witchcraft panic through 17th-century Spain.

Louis XIV, illustration, French, c.1869. New York Public Library. Public Domain.

The Roman Catholic War on Wigs

The Catholic Church’s ban on wigs in the 18th century was as revealing of attitudes towards disability as vanity and sanctity.

The Fisk Jubilee Singers, photograph by James Wallace Black, 1872. National Museum of African American History & Culture, Smithsonian Institution. Public Domain.

The Fisk Jubilee Singers Across the Atlantic

In 1874 a choir of African American singers concluded a successful tour of Britain, singing songs that confronted American racism. Victorian audiences had never heard music like it.