Middle Ages
(500 - 1500)
Document Deep Dive: What Does the Magna Carta Really Say?
A curator from the National Archives takes us through what the governing charter means
March 2012 |
By Megan Gambino
The Mystery of the Five Wounds
The first case of stigmata—the appearance of marks or actual wounds like those Christ received during the Crucifixion—was recorded in 1224. Hundreds of cases have followed. But this phenomenon has not been fully explained.
November 18, 2011 |
By Mike Dash
When Three British Boys Traveled to Medieval England (Or Did They?)
A 1957 "time traveler" recalls "a feeling of unfriendliness and unseen watchers which sent shivers up one’s back"
July 21, 2011 |
By Mike Dash
A Viking Mystery
Beneath Oxford University, archaeologists have uncovered a medieval city that altered the course of English history
October 2010 |
By David Keys
A Tour of France’s Cave Homes
In France’s Loire Valley, domesticated cave dwellings, known as troglodyte homes, offer a history as rich as the region’s chateaus
May 19, 2009 |
By Kristin Ohlson
Endangered Site: Visoki Decani Monastery, Kosovo
The fate of the 14th-century abbey has been darkened by ethnic violence in the Balkans
March 2009 |
By Kathleen Burke
Endangered Site: Famagusta Walled City, Cyprus
Once located in the midst of high-volume shipping lanes, a forgotten city with multiple European influences could be lost forever without an intervention
March 2009 |
By Helen Starkweather
The Divine Art of Tapestries
The long-forgotten art form receives a long overdue renaissance in an exhibit featuring centuries-old woven tapestries
December 23, 2008 |
By Matthew Gurewitsch
A Monumental Struggle to Preserve Hagia Sophia
In Istanbul, secularists and fundamentalists clash over restoring the nearly 1,500 year-old structure
December 2008 |
By Fergus M. Bordewich
Raiders or Traders?
A replica Viking vessel sailing the North Sea has helped archaeologists figure out what the stalwart Norsemen were really up to
July 2008 |
By Andrew Curry
The Vikings: A Memorable Visit to America
Exploring the New World a thousand years ago, a Viking woman gave birth to what is likely the first European-American baby. The discovery of the house the family built upon their return to Iceland has scholars rethinking the Norse sagas
December 2004 |
By Eugene Linden
