The Romans finally left Britain in 410 CE, but independence was short lived. Over the next two centuries Britain was overrun by pagan Anglo-Saxon invaders. Perhaps the most important British source for this period is… Read More »Taliesin and the Struggle for C6th Britain
Starting in the C14th, western Europe experienced a cultural revolution we now call the Renaissance. It was a revolution that had been long in the making, building on earlier medieval and classical art, literature, and… Read More »How a Persian King Inspired the Renaissance
What people read can tell us much about their culture. Books may not always reflect a truthful picture of the culture that values them. They nevertheless tell us much about what that culture values. … Read More »Books that Shaped Medieval England
One of the most powerful and enduring legends in British culture is the story of King Arthur. Indeed, so captivating was this legend that Arthur’s story spread widely throughout medieval Europe. Not only British but… Read More »The Legend of King Arthur
It was the morning of Friday 13th October 1307. Without warning, the baillis and sénéchaux of the King of France stormed the properties of the Order of the Knights Templar. Within the space of a… Read More »The Trial of the Templars
On 11 November 1215, in the Lateran Palace in Rome, the largest council of church leaders the world had yet witnessed convened. 400 bishops, 800 abbots along with observers from the Eastern Patriarchs were all… Read More »The Rise of the Medieval Church
On 4th September 476 CE, the barbarian warlord Odoacer deposed the boy Emperor, Romulus Augustulus. Convention has it that this act marked the end of the Roman Empire in the west. Odoacer would go on to… Read More »After Rome: The New Western Empire
In 476 CE the western Roman Empire fell. For places like Britain, the fall of Rome meant the fall of civilisation and the beginning of a dark age (which you can read about in our… Read More »After Rome – A New Persian Golden Age