Thursday, June 08, 2017

Writing about the Crusades and talking about a "meddlesome priest"

The Middle Ages are in the news again, so here is a roundup of recent news articles. We start with three good reads from historians talking about the crusades





14th century Book of Hours depicting the murder of Becket

Monday, March 06, 2017

10 New Youtube Videos for Medieval Lovers - Volume 2

We found 10 more new videos on Youtube about the Middle Ages.

Rediscovered: Medieval Books at Birkbeck 

This video introduces University of London - Birkbeck's small collection of four medieval books: three fifteenth-century manuscripts and one printed book. The books had been forgotten, and unstudied, for many years, until they were rediscovered in late 2015. The books are very different: a French book of hours, an Italian book of statutes, an Italian book of classical wisdom, and a Venetian printed book of the history of the Trojan War. Professor Anthony Bale and Dr Isabel Davis talk about the books' story and introduce some aspects of the books' iconography and meaning.

 

Friendships from a Medieval Perspective

Anotenella Liuzzo Scorpo at the University of Lincoln spends 60 seconds to talk about friendships in the Middle Ages.

  Medieval

Pisa: The city at the end of fourteenth century 

A 3D reconstruction of Pisa by Professor Michele Berretta of the University of Bologna.

 

Transformations of the Knight's Hall at Häme Castle 

Created by the University of Turku, Transformations of the Knights’ Hall is an augmented reality application located in the Häme Castle in Finland. It is designed as a museum guide experience describing the changes in one of the castle’s halls during past centuries. According to research the Knights’ Hall has assumed several different roles during its history: the residence of the head of the castle was there in the late medieval times, then around 18th century it has been used as a granary when the whole castle was decayed into a mere depot, and in the 19th and 20th centuries the castle acted as a prison. After 1950s the prison period ended and the castle was renovated. The hall got its present appearance, where remains of some of the old structures can still be seen.

 

Lutherfestdagene: The Reformation - a curse for church art? 

A debate held at the conference on The Reformation and the Arts Around the North Sea, organized by the University Museum of Bergen and Bjørgvin diocese. The participants are Professor Andrew Spicer (Oxford), Associate Professor Henning Laugerud (University of Bergen) and Henrik von Achen (Bergen University Museum).

 

The Wealth of Anglo Saxon Mercia 

The foundation of the power of Mercia - the dominant power of Anglo Saxon England - was its access to wealth. Their vast reserves of land in the fertile English Midlands and Mercian control of the Port of London funded the war bands which allowed the Kingdom to become the dominant power. This wealth is seen in the famous Staffordshire Hoard. Historian and Author, Dr John Hunt, describes this rise to power in his book Warriors, Warlords and Saints: The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia.

 

Staffordshire Hoard at The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery 

More Anglo-Saxon with this video promoting the Staffordshire Hoard at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent.

 

University College Dublin Centre for Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture: Making, Understanding, Storytelling 

Fly over some of the work being done by University College Dublin to understand the archaeology of Ireland.

 

Project Runway Medieval Style 

So cute! Grahamwood Kindergarten CLUE students created medieval style garments for our very own Project Runway Medieval Style.

 

Alfred the Great: I'll Make Anglo-Saxons Of You King 

Alfred sings to his army about why they really need to get better if they're going to defeat the Danes. The students of the Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic department of Cambridge University hold their Yule Play every year. To see more of their medieval-themed songs and sketches, check out their Youtube channel.

 





Wednesday, February 15, 2017

St. Magnus, Chaucer and Donaeld the Unready - what's new in the Middle Ages

In this week's news roundup of all things medieval, you can read about creating the face of St.Magnus, good reads about the Vikings, and someone having fun on Twitter. 



Our image of the week - “Manuscript Leaf from a Missal” by Austrian via The Metropolitan Museum of Art is licensed under CC0 1.0
 

Thursday, February 02, 2017

What's New With Vikings! and more medieval news

We are back with doing roundups of the medieval news! Let's start with a few recent pieces for fans of all things Norse...




And our image of the week is this zodiac sign of Aquarius in a 13/14th century manuscript

Image from e-codices / Flickr

Monday, January 23, 2017

10 New Youtube Videos for Medieval Lovers

A roundup of ten recent videos on Youtube for those interested in Medieval Studies


Andalusian Stories profiles Francisco Gutiérrez, who reproduces manuscripts and designs new miniatures applying the same techniques and materials used by master illuminators of the Middle Ages. You can also take a look at his website here.


Rowan Taylor, a blacksmith who works on the restoration and conservation of medieval iron wear, has uploaded this video showing how to create a medieval trowel.



Last year Jackson Crawford of the University of California at Berkeley began a series teaching about the Norse language and culture. His videos have been getting a strong number of viewers because of the great content and Crawford's straightforward style.



Richard Scott Nokes takes a look at the Saga of the Volsungs in his latest Professor Awesome video podcast



A pair of interviews with Christian Raffensperger, Associate Professor at Wittenberg University, about his books on medieval Rus.





Recording Archaeology has released dozens of videos in the last few weeks, covering a wide variety of topics related to Middle Ages. Here are three to check out.

 





And finally, our favourite band Stary Olsa, has released their cover of The Beatles song 'Yesterday'.





Monday, October 17, 2016

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Holy Wells, Lowercase Letters and Femfog: Medieval News Roundup

What we came across in our web browsing over the last week or so that will be of interest to medievalists...



Our Photo of the Week shows 14th century stonework from the former portal of a carmelite convent of Barcelona.



Photo by Catalan Art and Architecture / Flickr

Monday, December 28, 2015

From Mass Surveillance to Haggis: Medieval News Roundup

What we found this week in our online wanderings...



Our photo of the week comes from a Gospel book that was made at the Benedictine monastery of the Holy Savior at Helmarshausen, Germany, around 1120 to 1140. The image is part of the Getty's Open Content Program.

Sunday, December 06, 2015

Castles, Vikings, Mongols, and more Castles! Medieval News Roundup

What we found this week on our wanderings through the world wide web.




Our photo of the week comes from Neil Williamson on Flickr, who took this picture of the Red Castle, which lies on the east coast of Scotland

Monday, November 23, 2015

The Witch Girl, Medieval Churches and 25 Things about the Vikings

This week's medieval news round up...



Our photo of the week comes Travelholic Path on Flickr, who took this image while at the Alcobaça Monastery in Portugal.

Thursday, November 05, 2015

Unicorns, Selfies and How to Joust like a Knight: News for Medievalists

The latest medieval news we discovered in our online ramblings...




Our picture of the week is by Juha Remes on Flickr, showing Great Tower of Scarborough Castle and panoramic view to the headlands in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom.



Check out his Flickr page to see more.

Monday, October 26, 2015

The Battle of Agincourt in the News

The 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt was noted by many British media outlets over the weekend. Here are some of the articles that looked at the battle:


Our image of the week comes from AJ Leon on Flickr, who drew his own take on the Battle of Agincourt:


Friday, October 16, 2015

Neurology, Nudity and Coconuts: Medieval News Roundup

Our latest roundup of the news from the Middle Ages even goes into US Presidential Politics...




Our picture of the week shows the grand stained glass interior of Sainte-Chapelle, Paris, France. Photo by Joe Parks / Flickr


Sunday, October 04, 2015

Chastity Belts, Mead and Wanted Vikings: Medieval News Roundup

Our latest roundup of medieval news...



Our photo of the week comes from the 2015 White Truffle Fair in Alba, Italy, which included a historical reenactment. See more images from Giorgio Montersino's Flickr Album


Thursday, September 10, 2015

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Snobs, Bones and Baby Jesus': Medieval News Roundup



A roundup of this week's news for medievalists...



You can also read more about the Middle Ages in our weekly digital journal - The Medieval Magazine. Click here to learn more.








Wednesday, August 12, 2015

What does +NDXOXCHWDRGHDXORVI+ mean?

The British Library is looking for help trying to solve an inscription on a medieval sword...



London Chaucer Conference 2015: All The Tweets #Chaucer2015

All the tweets (in chronological order) from the Biennial London Chaucer Conference, held at Senate House Library, 10-11 July 2015. [Note: this captures only tweets using the official confernece hashtag #Chaucer2015]

Getting the Word Out: Medieval Manuscripts Now

UCL Festival of the Arts, 21 May 2015, 18:30 to 19:30 - Live tweets from public discussion on the use and abuse of digital images of medieval books: #ManuscriptsNow