Medieval

The ruins of Barnard Castle

Barnard Castle: a journey through time

A scene from the Smithfield Decretals depicting a rabbit beheading a man. Rabbits seem to have a strange place in medieval imagery – and are depicted as having strangely violent tendencies.

Blog Medieval(ish) matters #5: chivalry, medieval killer rabbits and prisoners of war in the 15th century

King Edward II

In profile: King Edward II

Medieval prisoners

What was it like to be a Prisoner of War during the Hundred Years’ War?

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King John II made prisoner at the Battle of Poitiers by the English during the Hundred Years War, 1356. Illustration

Medieval prisoners of war . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Medieval punishments, Toulouse, 14th century. (Photo by Photo12/UIG via Getty Images)

How bloody was medieval life?

King John hunting on horseback

Was King John really that bad? Yes!

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First Crusade, Siege of Antioch, c1097,14th-century illustration (Photo by Getty Images)

The crusades: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Two fighting Irishmen with axes, one hitting another in the head. Illustration after the Roy manuscript, 13th century (Photo by Getty Images)

Saturday lecture: Medieval crime and violence . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

This is the famous Rhynie Man carved stone, thought to be Pictish in date. (Photo by © Aberdeenshire Council Archaeology Service: www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/archaeology)

Blog Medieval(ish) matters #4: back to Braveheart, Viking river boats, Picts, and the Crusades

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Illustration of King John ripping up Magna Carta

What if... Magna Carta hadn’t been written? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Photo of Queen Elizabeth II and members of the Privy Council

Your guide to... the Privy Council

A couple get amorous in this 14th-century illustration

Call the medieval sex doctor: how 7 problems might have been treated in the Middle Ages

Painting of an auto-da-fé

Your guide to... the Spanish Inquisition

Doctor treating a patient, from a 14th-century manuscript. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Elma Brenner on medieval wellbeing: “People in the Middle Ages were absolutely focused on staying healthy”