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Monastic Orders of the Middle Ages
The monastic orders of the Middle Ages developed from the desire to live a spiritual life without the distractions of the world. Men and women who took religious vows were seeking a purity of experience they found lacking as lay people. Their...
Article
Dogs & Their Collars in the Middle Ages
Dogs have played a prominent role in the lives of humans going back thousands of years and, more than any other domesticated animal, this role has remained relatively unchanged. In the present day, dogs serve as guardians, perform tricks...
Article
Christian Antisemitism in the Middle Ages & during the Reformation
Antisemitism is a modern term that describes prejudice and hostility to Jews and Judaism. The origins of Christian antisemitism in the gospels are based on the story of a 1st-century itinerant Jewish preacher, Jesus of Nazareth, in the Roman...
Article
Olaudah Equiano's Account of the Middle Passage
Olaudah Equiano (l. c. 1745-1797, also known as Gustavus Vassa) was an African of the Igbo village of Essaka, of the Kingdom of Benin (modern Nigeria), who was enslaved around the age of ten, bought his freedom around the age of 20, and became...
Image Gallery
A Gallery of 30 Influential Women from the Middle Ages
In this gallery, we showcase images of 30 influential women from the Middle Ages. Usually dated from c. 500 to c. 1500, this was a complex and transformative period in European history filled with political turmoil and dynamic social and...
Collection
Trade in the Middle Ages
Peoples, cities and states have traded since antiquity but in the medieval period, things escalated so that goods travelled ever greater distances by land, river and sea. Great cities arose thanks to commerce and international trade such...
Image
Map of the Middle Assyrian Empire
The Middle Assyrian Empire emerged amid the dynamic political realignments of the Ancient Near East during the Late Bronze Age, as Assyria reasserted its independence and rose from a regional kingdom into a formidable imperial power. Following...
Image
Map of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, c. 2000 BCE
This map illustrates the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (c. 2055–1650 BCE), a period of reunification, stability, and cultural flourishing that followed the turbulence of the First Intermediate Period. Spanning roughly four centuries, it saw the...
Image
Woman & Two Sons, Middle Kingdom Statuette
This is a steatite statuette which depicts 3 standing persons. The woman stands in the middle (her name is Aa-Nubt) and her sons (Khenti-Khati-Hetep and Maat-Neferu) flank her on either side. From Egypt, precise provenance of excavation is...
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Map of Christian Pilgrimage in the Middle Ages, c. 1000
This map illustrates the changing patterns of Christian pilgrimage during the Middle Ages: for most Europeans the long, perilous, and costly journey to the Holy Land was too far, dangerous, and forbiddingly expensive, so devotion redirected...