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Articles on Medieval

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Medieval city on a river, by Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1815). Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie / Andres Kilger

Why the Middle Ages have such a bad reputation

The press, films and series and even everyday language still reflect a derogatory conception of the Middle Ages. Was the period really that bad?
‘Le Régime du corps’ described a variety of ways to maintain health by keeping the body in balance. The Bute Painter, circa 1285, MS Arsenal 2510, © Bibliothèque nationale de France

Medieval illustrated manuscripts reveal how upper-class women managed healthy households – overseeing everything from purging, leeching and cupping to picking the right wet nurse

This illustrated health manual dating back to the 13th century provides a glimpse of daily life in aristocratic households during the Middle Ages.
An Instacart worker loads groceries into her car for home delivery. There is a strong argument to be made that gig work is false self-employment, meaning that workers are not actually freelance. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Gig workers aren’t self-employed – they’re modern-day feudal serfs

Feudalism has been replaced by capitalism, and the new villeiny — or neo-villeiny — has emerged to reflect a relationship between a worker and an organization.
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)

How medieval writers struggled to make sense of the Black Death

During the Black Death of the 1300s, medieval writers struggled to make sense of the disease just as we are now during the COVID-19 pandemic

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