Chaucer’s career as a secret agent helped him assume different disguises in his writing. Some scholars interpret this role-playing as Chaucer being sexist and anti-Semitic.
An eclipse of the moon as illustrated in a 13th-century English manuscript. British Library, Harley 3735, f. 81v.
British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts
Long overlooked in the West, the Byzantine Empire has recently picked up interest among far-right and conspiracist circles. A historian of medieval culture explains what white supremacists get wrong.
The Cadaver Synod (897): Seven months after his death, the corpse of Pope Formosus was found guilty of perjury.
Jean-Paul Laurens (1870) via Britannica
The medieval symbols at the US Capitol riots says more about modern racism rather than true medieval history. We must be vigilant about this symbolism.
A wall relief from the British Museum shows three scribes amid a military campaign of the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III, in Babylonia (Iraq).
WikiCommons
All cultures have communicated their knowledge in diverse and marvellous ways throughout time. Failing to see the significance of this is racist and lazy.
Pope Urban II giving marching orders ahead of the First Crusade.
Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images
From the crusades of the medieval period to racial violence today, mankind has sought ways to ‘sanctify’ harmful actions, explains a scholar of religion.
The abbey of St Genevieve in Paris was destroyed during the French revolution.
Nicolas Ransonnette (1745-1810). Dessinateur (illustrator) - Bibliothèque nationale de France
With the plague decimating the ranks of laborers, surviving workers started pining for higher wages. When the monarchy responded by enacting taxes and restrictive labor laws, the peasants rebelled.
The biblical book of Ezekiel describes a vision of the divine that medieval philosophers understood as revealing the connection between religion and science.
By Matthaeus Merian (1593-1650)
Those experiencing stress and uncertainty amid the coronavirus may find guidance in medieval responses to plagues, which relied on both medicine and prayer.
In medieval Europe Passover was a touchpoint for violence and libel against Jews.
The Black Death inspired medieval writers to document their era of plague. Their anxieties and fears are starkly reminiscent of our own even if their solutions differ.
(Shutterstock)
In the aftermath of the plague, division and discord spread in medieval cities.
Two manuscripts of the visionary, writer and composer St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) survived the Dresden bombings after a librarian stashed them in a bank vault.
(Avraham Pisarek/Deutsche Fotothek/Wikimedia)
Founded on Christmas Day 1119 and disbanded in 1307, this religious order has been misunderstood ever since.
Physician letting blood from a patient. Attributed to Aldobrandino of Siena: Li Livres dou Santé. France, late 13th Century.
British Library, London, UK