Amputees in 16th century Europe commissioned iron hands from artisans, many of whom had never made prostheses before.
Lernestål, Erik, Livrustkammaren/SHM
Warrior-monks crusaded for Christianity throughout medieval Europe. Adding to the ongoing mystery surrounding the military order is their enigmatic seal.
Qualipu Mi’kmaw scholar Christopher Crocker has examined how fascination with Norse contact dominates Newfoundland tourism at the expense of pre-colonial Indigenous studies and representation. L’Anse-Aux-Meadow National Historic Site in northern Newfoundland.
(Shutterstock)
Indigenous and critical race approaches to narratives of the Middle Ages help reveal more accurate histories, and combat the misuses of ‘the medieval’ for hate.
Medieval Europeans thought about politics in terms of leadership and often criticized rulers for ‘tyranny’ − both in government and in the church.
Medieval scholars linked celestial occurrences, such as Halley’s comet, to events at home, such as the arrival of William the Conqueror in England.
DIT Archive/Alamy
Early modern societies in Latin America and Spain saw a convergence of traditional medical knowledge and the professionalization of medicine. The resulting differences in access to care endure today.
A miniature of the Erythrean Sibyl, writing.
British Library, Royal 16 G V f. 23.
Meg Leja, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Your doctor’s MD emerged from the Dark Ages, where practicing rational “human medicine” was seen as an expression of faith and maintaining one’s health a religious duty.
The medieval is part of the mosaic of modern Australia. Our nation’s heritage on this island continent is full of it: in aesthetics, institutions, laws, languages, identities, moralities.
Tiny drawings, such as knights riding snails, and random lines and squiggles were common in medieval books.
Does a painting from 1400 depict one of Jesus’ torturers as suffering from ‘saddle nose,’ a common effect of syphilis?
Detail of an Austrian painting c. 1400 of the Passion of Christ, The Cleveland Museum of Art
The idea that Europeans brought new diseases to the Americas and returned home with others has been widely accepted. But evidence is mounting that for syphilis this scenario is wrong.