Life in the Middle Ages

 So I started this blog over eleven years ago, and as of today I'm making my 600th post.  In honor of this milestone, I'd like to ma...

It's Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week for Christians, the most important religious period in the medieval calendar.  (The Orthodo...

The Middle Ages is often characterized as an Age of Faith.  It's not entirely clear what this term is supposed to mean, but the assumpti...

These days most people who follow a religion find it comforting.  They take it as reassurance that, as bad as things may be here, a better w...

Medievalists don't like to use the term "superstition" when discussing medieval religion.  For one thing, it is always pejorat...

A great deal of fantasy is set in a vaguely medieval setting.  And yet much of this fantasy leaves out a crucial part of real medieval life:...