Middle Ages: Did you mean...?

Thera is the ancient name for both the island of Santorini in the Greek Cyclades and the name of the volcano which famously erupted on the island in the middle Bronze Age. The 17th century BCE eruption covered Akrotiri, the most important...

Homo sapiens ('wise man'), or modern humans, are the only species of human still around today. Despite having invented countless ways of labelling the world around us, we have so far done a surprisingly poor job at defining ourselves...

Oswald of Northumbria (c. 604 - c. 642 CE) was a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon king and saint. He came to power in Northumbria c. 633 or 634 CE following his victory over Cadwallon ap Cadfan, King of Gwynedd. Oswald ruled over the...

The architecture of the Byzantine Empire (4th - 15th century CE) continued its early Roman traditions but architects also added new structures to their already formidable repertoire, notably improved fortification walls and...

The Notre Dame Cathedral (Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption) of Chartres in northern France was built in its current Romanesque and Gothic form between 1190 and 1220. A grander version of earlier cathedrals on the same...

Art, along with language, is perhaps the best way to see the connections between the ancient peoples we label as Celts who lived in Iron Age Europe. There were great variations across time and space but common features of ancient...

Hilda of Whitby (also known as Saint Hilda of Whitby, l. 614-680 CE) was the founder and abbess of the monastery at Whitby, Kingdom of Northumbria, Britain. She was a Northumbrian princess who converted to Christianity with the...

King Stephen of England, often called Stephen of Blois, ruled from 1135 to 1154 CE. His predecessor Henry I of England (r. 1100-1135 CE) had left no male heir and his nominated successor, his daughter Empress Matilda, was...

The Dissolution of the Monasteries was a policy introduced in 1536 CE by Henry VIII of England (r. 1509-1547 CE) to close down and confiscate the lands and wealth of all monasteries in England and Wales. The plan was...

The Ardagh Chalice, one of the finest examples of Irish metalwork from the Middle Ages, was found in 1868 CE as part of a hoard at an Irish ringfort in Reerasta, near Ardagh, Co. Limerick. While the chalice is the only ecclesiastical...