Normans: Did you mean...?

The Great Hall was the architectural centrepiece of a medieval castle's interior and functioned as the social and administrative hub of the castle and its estates. With everyone dining and sleeping in the hall in its early days, the room...

Anna Komnene (aka Anna Comnena, 1083-1153 CE) was the eldest daughter of Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081-1118 CE) and the author of a lengthy biography of her father's reign, the Alexiad. Although not an impartial history, Anna's...

Zoe Porphyrogenita was empress of the Byzantine Empire from 1028 CE until her death in 1050 CE. In an eventful career, she reigned alongside three husbands, had a hand in the succession of her adopted son, and, in 1042 CE, she was co-ruler...

The Council of Clermont in central France was held in November 1095 and witnessed Pope Urban II's (r. 1088-1099) historic call for the First Crusade (1095-1102) to capture Jerusalem for Christendom from its Muslim occupiers. The Pope's speech...

The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a state created in 1099 CE by Crusaders and western settlers after the First Crusade (1095-1102 CE). With Jerusalem as its capital, the kingdom was the most important of the four Crusader States in the Middle...

Saint Margaret of Scotland (c. 1046-1093 CE) was, as the second wife of Malcolm III (r. 1058-1093 CE), the queen of Scotland from 1070 CE until her death in November 1093 CE. A princess of the royal house of Wessex, she brought Anglo-Saxon...

Rochester Castle, located in Kent, England, was first constructed shortly after 1066 CE by the Normans, was converted into stone between 1087 and 1089 CE, and then added to over subsequent centuries, notably between 1127 and 1136 CE, and...

Malcolm III of Scotland (aka Máel Coluim mac Donnchada) reigned as king from 1058 to 1093 CE. He took the throne after his young predecessor Lulach (r. 1057-1058 CE), the stepson of Macbeth, king of Scotland (r. 1040-1057 CE), was killed...

Isaac I Komnenos was the Byzantine emperor from 1057 to 1059 CE. Although his reign was brief, he was known for being a capable and militarily astute general and emperor. As the first emperor to lead troops himself in battle in over 30 years...

Around 1065, the geopolitical landscape of North Africa and the western Mediterranean was marked by fragmentation, migration, and the rise of new regional powers. Older political structures were weakening, while emergent dynasties and mobile...