Did the Vikings Get a Bum Rap? Kinder, Gentler Vikings? Not According to Their Slaves. The ancient reputation of Vikings as bloodthirsty raiders on cold northern seas has undergone a radical change in recent decades.
A kinder, gentler, and more fashionable Viking emerged. (See “Did Vikings Get a Bum Rap?”) But our view of the Norse may be about to alter course again as scholars turn their gaze to a segment of Viking society that has long remained in the shadows. Medieval Christmas: how did people in the Middle Ages celebrate? 1) Don’t go over the top Medieval Christmas wasn’t quite the all-encompassing celebration it often is today, so relax a little.
Christmas, the Feast of Jesus’s Nativity, was important, but more significant was Easter, and perhaps also the Annunciation – that moment celebrated on 25 March when God was supposedly conceived in Mary’s womb. 2) Be wary Much of the medieval world didn’t celebrate Christmas, and if you were a medieval Jew, Christmas could be a time of danger. At Korneuburg in around 1305, townsfolk accused the Jews of procuring a consecrated communion wafer at Christmas and desecrating it, whereupon it ‘bubbled blood-drops, like an egg sweats when it is cooked’. The medieval Muslim scholar Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328) inveighed against those Muslims who adopted Christian festivities, particularly criticizing what he saw as an imitation of Christmas in the celebration of the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday (mawlid). 3) Fast then feast 4) Reign victorious.
Computers Piece Together Scattered Ancient Scrolls. It's like something out of "The Da Vinci Code": Hundreds of thousands of fragments from medieval religious scrolls are scattered across the globe.
How will scholars put them back together? The answer, according to scientists at Tel Aviv University, is to use computer software based on facial recognition technology. Medieval immigrants: moving to England in the Middle Ages. Reading the name ‘Reginald Newport’ in the English records of the 14th century does not immediately lead one to suppose that its holder was a foreigner.
To all intents and purposes, the man in question was a full and active subject of the English crown, a minor functionary in the royal household of Edward III, a property-holder in the city of London and rural Berkshire, and an influential public official as regulator of fisheries along the Thames basin. And yet, when the city of London challenged Reginald’s powers in 1377, it quite deliberately chose to undermine his authority by naming him as “Reginald Newport, Fleming”.
Suddenly, we open up a whole new aspect of the life and career of Reynauld Nieuport, as we might now call him. British Library appeals for help in cracking code carved in sword. A 13th century sword, found in 1825, has a cryptic 18-letter message on itNDXOXCHWDRGHDXORVI is engraved down the weapon's central grooveIt is on display at the British Library as part of the Magna Carta exhibition By Sarah Griffiths and Sam Tonkin For Mailonline Published: 09:01 GMT, 7 August 2015 | Updated: 11:59 GMT, 7 August 2015 A medieval sword that carries a mysterious inscription has baffled historians for centuries.
Little is known about double-edged weapon, least of all the meaning behind a cryptic 18-letter message running down the central groove which reads: NDXOXCHWDRGHDXORVI. 10 things you (probably) didn’t know about King Henry V and the battle of Agi... Teresa Cole explores the life and legacy of the medieval warrior king in her book, Henry V: The Life of the Warrior King & the Battle of Agincourt 1415.
Here, writing for History Extra, she reveals 10 lesser-known facts about Henry V… 1) Nobody knows when he was born Henry V was born at Monmouth castle, perched high above the River Monnow, but there is no record of his birth, and even the year is uncertain. Some say his birthday was 9 August 1387, but an alternative date is 16 September 1386. The latter comes from a horoscope drawn up for the king and apparently commissioned by him just before the Agincourt campaign. However, the French astrologer who drew the horoscope was later accused in Paris of being an English spy, and it is possible the work was just an excuse for the man to come to England and meet with Henry. 2) He was in Ireland with Richard II when his father seized the throne.
Medieval Empires. Medievalists.net Where the Middle Ages Begin Medieval Empires August 2, 2015 By Medievalists.net Throughout the medieval era, many multi-ethnic states emerged – some lasting for just a generation, while others would endure for centuries.
Switzerland’s Dance of Death Bridge: A series of danse macabres lead travelers across this Swiss bridge. Atlas Obscura on Slate is a blog about the world’s hidden wonders.
Like us on Facebook and Tumblr, or follow us on Twitter. From the outside, Lucerne's Spreuer Bridge looks to be a peacefully bucolic Old World span, the kind where medieval lovers might have met on a warm spring day. But hanging beneath the covered roof are dozens of historic paintings of skeletons and reapers collecting souls and reminding travelers that every second is one closer to death. A Comparative Analysis of the Concepts of Holy War and the Idealized Topos of... A Comparative Analysis of the Concepts of Holy War and the Idealized Topos of Holy Warrior In Medieval Anatolian And European Sources By Ceren Çıkın Sungur Master’s Thesis, Bahçeşehir University, 2014 Abstract: Claims of holy war characterized the Middle Ages in both Muslim Anatolia and Christian Europe, where soldiers on both sides were portrayed as holy warriors.
Named gazis, akıncıs, alps, chevaliers and knights, they came from the elite military classes. Literary depictions of these men as holy warriors were fundamentally idealized topoi created by writers who were patronized by or were close to those in power. The City of Rome in the Middle Ages. The City of Rome in the Middle Ages By Gordon McNeil Rushforth Pegasus: University of Exeter Classical Society Magazine, Vol.25 (1982)
Discovered Near Arctic - Mysterious Lost Medieval Civilization And Puzzling A... MessageToEagle.com - A group of scientists excavating on the edge of the Siberian Arctic have made a very intriguing discovery unearthing unopened human remains wrapped in birch bark belonging to a mysterious lost medieval civilization. Several of the ancient bodies were overlain with copper sheets, parts of copper kettles and together with the permafrost. This mummification process gave a remarkable preserving effect. Archeologists working at the site, near Salekhard, say they suspect the remains are of a child or teenager from the 12th or 13th centuries AD.
Checks with a metal detector show there is indeed metal beneath the birch bark. ' The birch bark 'cocoon' is of 1.30 meters in length and about 30 cm at the widest part. Hellenes and Romans in Ancient China (240 BC – 1398 AD) Hellenes and Romans in Ancient China (240 BC – 1398 AD) By Lucas Christopoulos Sino-Platonic Papers, 230 (August, 2012) Saladin's Triumph: The Battle of Hattin, 1187. The Battle of Hattin, from a 15th-century manuscript.In a battle fought near the western shore of the Sea of Galilee on July 4th, 1187, the Sultan Saladin inflicted a terrible defeat on the field army of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, killing or capturing the vast majority of its soldiers. Historians have questioned the long-term significance of many medieval battles, but nobody has denied that the Battle of Hattin had a decisive impact on the history of the crusader states in Palestine and Syria.
Hattin led to Saladin's conquest of nearly all the lands held by the Franks, including his occupation of Jerusalem on October 2nd. It also precipitated the Third Crusade, which succeeded, by the terms of the Treaty of Jaffa in 1192, in re-establishing the Latin Kingdom in the form of a narrow coastal strip, containing most of the important Palestinian ports.
Nonetheless, the threat to the Latin Kingdom took some years to materialise. Imprisoning the Mentally Ill in Medieval England. What to do with mentally ill individuals who are violent? This is a question that modern and medieval societies had to deal with. In two papers given last month at the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University, scholars examined what sources from medieval England revealed about under what conditions the mentally ill would be imprisoned. The papers were given by Leigh Ann Craig of Virginia Commonwealth University and Wendy J. Turner of Portland State University, two of the leading scholars in issues regarding mental illness in the Middle Ages. “Inside a Most Fortified Little House”: Communities and the Imprisonment of the Senseless in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries Leigh Ann Craig examined eight medieval miracle stories from England which had stories of individuals being imprisoned, either in a home or a shrine, because of a mental illness.
The Battle of Marston Moor and the English Revolution. Chain, Chest, Curse: Combating Book Theft in Medieval Times. Do you leave your e-reader or iPad on the table in Starbucks when you are called to pick up your cup of Joe? You’re probably not inclined to do this, because the object in question might be stolen. The medieval reader would nod his head approvingly, because book theft happened in his day too.
The Evolution of Arthur. – June 25, 2015Posted in: Articles. Who actually died at the Battle of Crecy? This battle, fought on August 26, 1346, was one of the most important victories for England during the Hundred Years War. Pigs and Prostitutes: Streetwalking in Comparative Perspective. – June 28, 2015Posted in: Articles Pigs and Prostitutes: Streetwalking in Comparative Perspective. 10 Fun Fashion Facts from the Middle Ages. By Danièle Cybulskie Recently, I wrote a post about medieval fabrics that contained some interesting information from Margaret Scott’s Fashion in the Middle Ages.
The Dominican Order in the Middle Ages - Medieval Histories. Imprisoning the Mentally Ill in Medieval England. The Medieval Rabbi Who Invented the Decimal Fractions System. Sites of Encounter in the Medieval World — California History-Social Science ... For best accessibility viewing turn off CSS and JavaScript. Base Map. Physicists Make Fascinating Discovery When Comparing Masterpieces Of Medieval... Did People in the Middle Ages Fight as Well With Swords as Portrayed in Movie... Is it Better to Die in Battle or to Flee? A Medieval View.
Students: raising hell since the Middle Ages. 14 Most Painful Medieval Torture Techniques Ever. A Different Picture of the Middle Ages. Slaughter at the End of the Middle Ages The Experience of Growing Up in Medieval Society. Christianization of Early Medieval Societies: an Anthropological Perspective. King Stephen’s Siege Tactics. Courtly Magic in the Middle Ages. Did Richard III keep his scoliosis a secret?