Medieval

The popularity of the Middle English poem has endured for 650 years but the question of who wrote it remains unanswered. Lawrence Warner addresses the mystery.

Ole J Benedictow describes how he calculated that the Black Death killed 50 million people in the 14th century, or 60 per cent of Europe’s entire population.

'Medieval' is often treated as synonymous with lawlessness and brutality. Is that fair?

Bernhard W. Scholz describes how the burghers of Laon in 1112 set a violent example of twelfth-century revolt against established authority.

In the mid-fifteenth century, writes Anthony Bryer, George Kastriota, surnamed Skanderbeg, was acclaimed as a powerful champion of Christianity on the eastern shores of the Adriatic.

Dorothy Margaret Stuart describes how the earliest English printed book was issued from William Caxton’s press at Westminster in 1477, under the patronage of the ruling House of York.

The medievalist Jacques Le Goff was inspired by the work of his uncle and fellow historian, Marc Bloch.

The medieval scriptorium was not necessarily the ordered hive of activity we have come to imagine.

The violence and gore in the hit TV series simply reflect the bloodiness of the Middle Ages, right? Not necessarily, says Marc Morris.

In 1373, writes Jan Read, King Edward III signed an alliance with Portugal which has lasted ever since.