Gone Medieval

At the edge of the Gobi Desert, Dunhuang was once a bustling oasis on the famous Silk Road connecting China and the Mediterranean. For more than 1000 years, Dunhuang was an important pilgrimage site a...

For the Plantagenets, family might be a curse as often as a boon. They could provide invaluable support, or dangerous rivalry. At the end of the 14th century, the relationship between two first cousin...

Castles. For centuries they have held fast across the landscape of the British Isles. Like beacons on a hill they project power in stone and wood. But where did these quintessentially medieval stron...

Bonfires of paperwork have accompanied human upheaval for centuries, eradicating, making space for rewriting. Imagine standing in the centre of Paris as revolutionaries sweep away the old ways along w...

If you’ve ever been to Prague, you’ll have noticed that there are many places and institutions that bear the name Charles - all of them because Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV was responsible for their ...

The stories often told and retold of the early medieval period are those of great kings, battles and daring deeds. But ordinary people can often be harder to get at. Matt Lewis is joined by Dr. Eleano...

Vikings have long been depicted as that stereotype of the hairy, nameless warrior, leaping ashore from his longboat, ready to terrorise a hapless local population in a northern European country. But t...

For centuries, one English monarch basked in an almost unblemished, heroic reputation. But more recently questions have been asked about some of his actions. Was Henry V a great warrior king, or a vic...

One of the enduring mysteries of the Viking Age is the identity of two people buried in a spectacular blood drenched ship in southern Norway in the autumn of 834. Why the mystery? Because these remain...

The Crusades still capture the imagination today, for all of their professed good intentions they were also bloody ideological wars. But have we misunderstood some of the key sources for the First Cru...