Medieval

Jeremy Black warns against a simplistic characterisation of a complex and diverse period.

Maurice Keen looks at the significance of female lines of descent in heraldic arms, and what this tells us about women of noble and gentle birth in medieval England.

Borrowing the money to hire 3,000 mercenaries, Henry crossed the Channel in a howling gale on 6 January 1153.

Bernard Hamilton unravels the complex tale of the spread of the Christian faith and its competing hierarchies.

King Æthelred ordered the massacre of Danes in England on November 13th, 1002.

Pope Boniface VIII issued the papal bull Unam Sanctam, the most famous papal document of the Middle Ages, on November 18th, 1302.

Was Bruce as patriotic or as harmonious in his relationship with Wallace as the view of historical romance has handed down? Andrew Fisher investigates the meaning of patriotism in 14th-century Scotland and suggests the tradition needs revising.

David Crouch reconsiders William I and his sons as men of genuine piety – as well as soldiers.

Jonathan Hughes looks at the significance, in alchemical terms, of this reign, and what the King himself made of alchemical prophecy.

Craig Clunas considers what we can learn of the society of Ming China by looking at how paintings were used as gifts.