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
The cult of saints and relics was a true medieval European phenomenon. By the High Middle Ages, the number of saints easily outnumbered the number of days in the year. There were patron saints for… Read More »The Antisemitic Cult of William of Norwich
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
Early in 1426, a tense, angry Parliament met at Leicester. One of the king’s uncles accused another of his uncles of treason. The atmosphere was tense, violence threatened to erupt at any time. England was… Read More »Parliament of Bats
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
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
In late August 1422 Henry V lay on his deathbed at the Château de Vincennes in France. He was dying at the height of his powers at the age of just 35. He would leave behind… Read More »The Legacy of Henry V and the Infant King
Henry V’s victory at Agincourt in 1415 dealt a major blow to his French enemies. However, the war in France was very far from won. In this article, we’ll look at how Henry V sought… Read More »Henry V: The Scourge of God
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