Lovebirds in the 14th-century Codex Manesse (Cod. Pal. germ. 848, f. 249v).
Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg
How about some fowl play this Medieval Valentine’s day?
Anthony Patterson
A windswept rock at what was the edge of the Medieval world is a fitting place for a Jedi hermit.
Perfected!
Conny Sjostrom/Shutterstock
The requirement for marriage banns was introduced 800 years ago (almost to the day). Now there’s talk of scrapping them.
Dutch painter Pieter Claesz’s Still Life with Turkey Pie (1627) features a cooked turkey that’s been placed back inside its original skin, feathers and all.
Wikimedia Commons
Most of the flavor combinations and traditions we’ve come to associate with the holiday date back to the Middle Ages.
Catch those z’s.
Tilo G/Shutterstock
The clocks going back hold the tantalising promise of an extra hour in bed. But the modern attitude towards that champion of indolence, the sloth, shows that sloth is still very much a deadly sin.
We’ve always been fascinated by disfiguring diseases like leprosy.
Wikimedia Commons
Does Greyscale’s allure for contemporary audiences have to do with disfigurement?
Dining room scene from the Luttrell Psalter, 1325-1335.
At the time of Magna Carta a food revolution was taking place, which would no doubt have been reflected in the barons’ celebrations.
The Greatest Mind You’ve Never Heard Of.
The 13th century polymath Robert Grosseteste was ahead of his time when it came to understanding light, colour and the universe itself.
Holding back the tide.
Hannah McKay/EPA
Six hundred years separate two post-election protests, but the issues at hand are strangely similar and the mistakes too easily repeated.
There is not a female figure on Game of Thrones who does not have a medieval counterpart.
© Home Box Office, Inc.
Game of Thrones never even approaches the slippery and surprising world of gender manipulation and redefinition that existed in medieval spirituality.
Feeling snubbed at the lack of invite?
Joe Giddens/PA Wire
Benedict Cumberbatch is related to him – as are many others. But very few helped us identify the car park king.
Made glorious summer by this sun of York.
Joe Giddens/PA Wire
By an accident of history, Richard III met his death on a battlefield near Leicester. Now, this has transformed the city.
Cersei Lannister – or is it Margaret of Anjou?
©2015 Home Box Office, Inc.
It’s hard to imagine a more fitting venue for a show based on George R R Martin’s notoriously brutal novels.
Invoking Magna Carta in 1817.
© British Museum
In its 800-year history, the revered document has been called upon in interesting ways.
Bits of the self have historically been an emotional aide memoire.
Cristiana Gasparotto
As Valentine’s Day approaches, many of us will think about sharing a token of our affection. The ubiquitous card is often teamed with a staple of the season: chocolate, perfume or flowers. These gifts…