Medieval

Minoo Dinshaw is disappointed to discover that ignorance of the Middle Ages can found even among the most elevated company.

One of the grandest, certainly one of the largest, manuscripts produced in the medieval West, the Codex Amiatinus is often overlooked as an Anglo-Saxon treasure. Conor O’Brien shows how its makers used it to assert their identity and to establish their place firmly within the Christian world.

As the search for lost medieval kings continues, interest in them seems stronger than ever. But a warning from the past speaks of their – and our – ruin.

As the Chilcot Inquiry is published, John Sabapathy asks why, historically, we want inquests to mete out justice and hold guilty parties to account.

The ‘hands-on’ parenting style, so often thought to be unique to modern western society, has deep roots in the family life of the Middle Ages, argues Rachel Moss.

The popularity of the Middle English poem has endured for 650 years but the question of who wrote it remains unanswered. Lawrence Warner addresses the mystery.

Ole J Benedictow describes how he calculated that the Black Death killed 50 million people in the 14th century, or 60 per cent of Europe’s entire population.

'Medieval' is often treated as synonymous with lawlessness and brutality. Is that fair?

Bernhard W. Scholz describes how the burghers of Laon in 1112 set a violent example of twelfth-century revolt against established authority.

In the mid-fifteenth century, writes Anthony Bryer, George Kastriota, surnamed Skanderbeg, was acclaimed as a powerful champion of Christianity on the eastern shores of the Adriatic.