Category News

A farm in East Lothian could hold the secrets of one of Europe’s most important Cistercian nunneries, according to an expert at this week’s International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds.Dr Kimm Curran, who holds a PhD in medieval Scottish history from the University of Glasgow, says that the remains of the nunnery at Haddington are of “great historical significance for Scotland, and also for Cistercian history.

The Austrian town of Friesach will be home to a new medieval castle, to built using construction methods from the period. The project, which is being called a unique cooperation combining sustainable tourism and science, is expected to take thirty years and will involve work by a number of Austrian historians.

A recent discovery in an Austrian castle has revealed that bras existed back in the 15th century. It is among dozens of new textile artifacts that seem to have been preserved by a lucky accident, which will give historians a much better understanding of late medieval fashion.The research, led by Beatrix Nutz of Innsbruck University, examines a room that was discovered in the south wing of Castle Lengberg in 2008.

Detailed data from tree-rings has allowed scientists to reconstruct the climate of northern Europe going back into the Roman era and the Middle Ages. A new study has been published in the journal Nature Climate Change demonstrate that the long-term trend over the past two millennia has been towards climatic cooling.

In 1419, Venice was almost able to get a second head of Saint Mark the Evangelist, but were foiled by the efforts of Egypt’s Coptic Christian community and the Mamluk Sultan. This episode is recounted in a new book by Georg Christ entitled Trading Conflicts: Venetian Merchants and Mamluk Officials in Late Medieval Alexandria.

The discovery of female undergarments from the 15th century is making international headlines. Now more details are being released by the University of Innsbruck.The archaeological research was carried out at Lengberg Castle, East Tyrol, Austria, beginning in July 2008, when a renovation project for the medieval castle was stated.

The British Library and Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development have unveiled an ambitious partnership to transform people’s understanding of the history of the Middle East, and the region’s relationship with Britain and the rest of the world.The £8.7 million project was announced this morning at the British Library’s flagship building in St Pancras, London.

Canterbury Cathedral and the University of Kent have joined forces in a bid to prevent a unique historic collection of several thousand manuscripts, early books, and pamphlets being broken up.The Mendham Collection, which is owned by the Law Society of England and Wales, contains about 5,000 invaluable items including medieval manuscripts, rare books and unique copies of some of the earliest books to have ever been printed.

One of the most important historical works of the 12th-century, the Kaiserchronik, will be the focus of a £1 million project to create a new landmark new edition.Originally written in about 1150, the Kaiserchronik (‘Chronicle of Emperors‘) is a huge, 17,000-line verse chronicle, which recounts the exploits of German kings and rulers.

A rare accounting document, half-concealed beneath a coat of arms design, has revealed the activities of Italian bankers working in early 15th century London, decades before the capital became a financial powerhouse. The discovery was made by economic historians at Queen Mary, University of London.Among the pages of a bound collection of traditional English crests held at the London College of Arms – the headquarters of British heraldry – are several papers belonging to a book of debtors and creditors for Florentine merchant-banking company, Domenicio Villani & Partners.

With 700 days to go until the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, the National Trust for Scotland and Historic Scotland have launched a new website to promote the medieval battle and the construction of a visitor’s centre that will make the site a major tourist destination.The website, www.

In an upcoming short film, the sad realities of war are examined in the Middle Ages. Tears of the Fallen is currently in production, and tells the story of a aftermath of a 15th century battle, a war ravaged soldier meets a peasant woman searching for her warrior son.Directed by ‘Cruz’ and produced by David L.

Experts are beginning an 18-month research project to unlock the secrets of the Staffordshire Hoard, the collection of Anglo-Saxon items discovered in 2009. The project, to be carried out by Anglo Saxon finds cataloguer Chris Fern and specialist artefact photographer Guy Evans, aims to produce a detailed catalogue entry for each of the 3,500 items in the hoard.

An archaeological project has just begun that aims broaden our understanding of how Christianity impacted daily life in Anglo-Saxon England. The project, which started this month, is led by Dr Gabor Thomas of the University of Reading and is excavating in the village green of Lyminge in Kent.Readers can follow progress and see images of the archaeological dig on the blog of the Lyminge Archaeological Project.

For those looking to support a medieval-themed project, Blazon! The Card Game might be just what you are looking for. Its inventor, Avery Krouse has turned to the popular crowd funding website Kickstarter to raise $2500 for the production of what he believes to be the first ever heraldry card game.Blazon!

Injured British soldiers have helped uncover the remains of a sixth Century Anglo-Saxon female in an excavation project to preserve the remains of a burial site on Salisbury Plain in southern England.‘Davina’, as they have named the woman is believed to have died in her late teens to early 20s. She appears to have been a person of note, as she was buried in what would have been a prestigious burial site.

When a damaging earthquake struck the area of L’Aquila in central Italy in 2009, it was the latest in the region’s long history of strong and persistent quakes. The rich recorded history of settlement in the area, along with oral traditions, archaeological excavations, inscriptions and medieval texts, and offer insight into how often the region might expect destructive earthquakes.

A report to be released tomorrow by the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) will reveal that a mass burial on the site of the Augustinian priory and hospital of St Mary Spital had thousands of victims from a famine that occurred in 1258. The famine was caused by a volcanic blast from the other side of the world, which sent vast amount of ash into the atmosphere and dropped world temperatures.

Medieval clerics did not relish the prospect of giving up sex when the Papacy tried to introduce the principle of celibacy. Resistance was widespread, it was revealed at an academic conference at the University of Huddersfield where two historians are playing a key role in developing the burgeoning study area of medieval masculinity.

By Camille BrownWith business and financial scandals common in today’s new headlines, the axiom ‘Greed is good’ often seems to be the working philosophy of many wealthy executives and businessmen. But greed hasn’t always been popular in Western societies.Stanford historian Laura Stokes is uncovering how attitudes toward “acceptable greed” have done a turnaround in the past 500 years.