Easter is the most important time of year in the Christian calendar. Whilst our medieval forebears had Easter eggs and hot cross buns, there was no Easter bunny and (even more disappointingly) no chocolate. However,… Read More »Medieval Easter
If you asked someone in Elizabethan England to explain what a witch was, you would receive a very clear and familiar description. Witches were, as everyone at that time knew, devil worshipping practitioners of black… Read More »Witchcraft in the Middle Ages
Our medieval forebears celebrated the Christmas period with a full twelve days of festivities. Some of the festivities would be very familiar to us today but other traditions have long since died out. Indeed, some… Read More »The Twelve Days of Medieval Christmas
These days we are all too familiar with Halloween in its modern form. A night of trick or treating, dressing up as ghosts and ghouls, carving jack-o-lanterns from pumpkins. Hanging up cardboard silhouettes of witches’… Read More »Halloween in the Middle Ages
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