Medieval marginalia is most known for being bizarre and offensive. It frequently is, but not always, particularly in earlier manuscripts. In the mid 12th century, Peter Lombard wrote a gloss of the psalms. That is, he created pages that displayed both the text of the Book of Psalms and hisContinue Reading
As explained here, medieval artists have very little interest in image backgrounds. However, as we get further into the High/Late Middle Ages, we see more and more of it, until artwork starts turning more realistic in general, and then we start seeing environment. Often they aren’t particularly relevant. Look atContinue Reading
Through most of the Middle Ages, artwork had a decided lack of environment. If you weren’t familiar with medieval Christian Art, you’d have a hard time knowing what the image at right even is, much less where it is happening. What I see: Man with a bad bleach job andContinue Reading
On December 29, 1170, Henry II of England accidentally murdered his former best friend, Thomas Becket. The Anarchy As always, to understand a historical tale, you need to understand some of the context. Henry’s entire childhood developed in the context of a 18-year civil war known as the Anarchy, andContinue Reading
Almost 50 years after his death, Alan Turing is finally pardoned by Queen Elizabeth II. Turing was a pioneer in cryptography (most notably in connection with breaking the WWII Enigma codes) and early computing. He wrote on the possibilities of artificial intelligence, which he expected we would develop within fiftyContinue Reading
I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do with this blog when I started it. Honestly, my first thought was steampunk. I’m sure I will eventually get around to it, but it clearly hasn’t been my focus. I am a medievalist. I am greatly enjoying writing about thatContinue Reading
This little gem comes from Grumpy Eleanor of Aquitaine on Facebook. My apologies for not knowing the original source. Grumpy Eleanor doesn’t list them. Often I can Google them, but finding appropriate keywords for this one is difficult. I am guessing it’s a 15th century something. Rarely is there soContinue Reading
The TV show Supernatural is significantly focused on the fighting of demons and, more and more often, angels. As such, they use a wide variety of symbols that at least look like they are legit magical symbols. Some of them are, many of them aren’t, and others history-influenced, but notContinue Reading
These Astronomical Clocks Were a Wonder of the Medieval World. I have a wee bit of an issue with an article that talks about these devices being around for over 1000 years and then not giving an example older than the 14th century, but the pictures are nevertheless marvelous andContinue Reading
Marginalia is any content existing within the margins of a book. In more modern books, marginalia is generally the notes an owner has scribbled to himself. Books with the marginalia of famous thinkers can become quite valuable. In the Middle Ages, however, marginalia was an art form. It was plannedContinue Reading