How did medieval Mongolian women wear their hair and dress at court? This feature explores braids, shaving customs, and the iconic boqta headdress across Yuan and Ilkhanid art, travellers’ accounts, and archaeological finds.
Early medieval commanders knew that rivers could stop an army as effectively as walls. Using Frontinus alongside case studies from Otto I and Henry II, this article explores feints, bridge-building, and the tactics behind forced crossings.
The second instalment of a translation of an early seventeenth-century Chinese source on scams and cons offers a fascinating window into pre-modern crime.
Discover how medieval artists began putting themselves into their work — ten vivid self-portraits from St Dunstan to Albrecht Dürer.
You can now watch every episode of my podcast on YouTube ****French adventure special notice****
At the Battle of Mont Gisard in 1177, the Templars came within yards of killing Saladin. This feature looks at the near-assassination, the shock of the Frankish charge, and how Saladin sought revenge in the years that followed.
Public houses—places that sold alcoholic drinks—were a central part of life in Cracow in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This book explores how these establishments worked: who owned them, who gathered inside, and how city authorities dealt with disorder when drinking turned into violence.
How did medieval people mark the passing of the New Year? Well, interestingly enough, it wasn’t always celebrated on January 1st.
Medievalists.net’s choice for the Book of the Year! This book offers a compelling account of the famine that struck Barcelona in 1333–34, reconstructed through the records of the city’s government. Vividly written yet firmly grounded in the sources, it stands as a fitting culmination of Kelleher’s work as a medievalist.
Medieval studies fans can download and read all of these 20 newly published open-access books.
This week on The Medieval Podcast, in keeping with tradition, Danièle speaks with Peter Konieczny, editor of Medievalists.net, about the good, the bad, and the ugly of 2025.
Christmas in the Middle Ages looked quite different than it does today, but gifts still played a role. Read on to find out what gift-giving looked like during the holidays in the Middle Ages.
