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Medieval Ages

A Lady-in-Waiting of France strums her instrument on this card from The Courtly Household Cards (Das Hofämterspiel), created in c. 1450.

Cool Finds

Lavishly Illustrated Medieval Playing Cards Flouted the Church and Law

Secular and religious officials alike frowned on card playing in Europe’s Middle Ages

The ruins of an ancient Norse settlement still stand near Hvalsey Fjord in Greenland.

New Research

Did Climate Change Make the Norse Disappear From Greenland?

Evidence from glacial deposits adds a new twist to the tale of the mysterious lost settlements

New Research

Lead Poisoning Rampant for Wealthy Medieval Europeans

It wasn’t just the Romans that accidentally poisoned themselves

A satirical 16th-century print showing a chastity belt

Cool Finds

Medieval Chastity Belts Are a Myth

People probably chuckled just as much then about the idea as they do today

Cool Finds

A 13th-Century Sword Is Giving Historians a Headache

The sword’s inscription is an 800-year-old mystery

Evidence from reindeer combs, like the one above, hints that the Vikings may have traded with Denmark before they started raiding England.

Vikings Didn’t Just Raid, They Traded Too

Reindeer artifacts found at Medieval market sites suggest the famed raiders tried the merchant thing first

An archeologist from Inrap excavates a mass grave below a supermarket in Paris

Cool Finds

Scientists Investigate a Medieval Mass Grave Under a French Supermarket

Renovation work uncovered hundreds of individuals, perhaps all killed by disease at the same time

Armor from the Old Arsenal Museum (Altes Zeughaus) in Solothurn, Switzerland

Cool Finds

Here’s How to Fight Wearing 15th Century Armor

Experts demonstrate some moves in a video while wearing full suits of plate armor

New Research

This Nasty Medieval Remedy Kills MRSA

An ancient brew could lead to modern-day drugs to fight the superbug

Cool Finds

Mostly the Old And Ill Ate Breakfast Until the Rise of the Working Man

Romans disdained the meal, few ate it in the Middle Ages, but most eat breakfast now

A quarantine official at Beijing's international airport stands behind a banner notifying incoming passengers from West Africa' to use a specific lane

The Long History of Disease and the Fear of the “Other”

Reactionary quarantines and travel bans are far older than the current Ebola scares

A hourd in Carcassonne

The Medieval Origin Story of the Balcony

Architect/historian Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc suggested that the balcony was forged in the heat of battle.

A female German fighter rests after competing in the first World International Medieval Combat Championship.

Cool Finds

The World Championships in Medieval Combat

Steps from a 15th century Spanish castle, combatants took to arms

A scientist examines a 1500-year-old tooth from a Justinian plague victim in the lab.

Bubonic Plague Family Tree Sheds Light on the Risk of New Outbreaks

The Black Death and the Justinian Plague arose separately from the same pathogen. Could a new strain emerge in the future?

Definitely sinning right now.

Cool Finds

How Medieval People Decided Whether Sex Was Acceptable or Not

Spoiler alert: your sex is definitely Medievally sinful

Kersey in 1957. Although Jack Merriott's watercolor presents an idealized image of the village – it was commissioned for use in a railway advertising campaign – it does give an idea of just how 'old' Kersey must have looked to strangers in the year it became central to a 'timeslip' case.

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”

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Inscribing the Word

At a scriptorium in Wales, calligraphers are applying medieval arts to create the 21st-century Saint John’s Bible

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Ready…Aim…Fire!

A risky experiment reveals how medieval engines of war brought down castle walls

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Terror in A.D. 1000?

While we look to the new millennium with both trepidation and amusement, medieval scholars argue about what really happened at this time 1,000 years ago

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