Life in the Middle Ages

Medieval history commonly shows up in college courses in the first half of Western Civilization, a freshman course taught at colleges around...

What's the difference between a kingdom and an empire?  A kingdom is headed by a king (or queen), an empire by an emperor (or empress). ...

There was not much trackless wilderness in western Europe in the high or late Middle Ages.  Pretty much all of the land that is now being cu...

A number of years ago I co-wrote a textbook for undergraduates on life and society in Antiquity and the Middle Ages.  In some ways my book P...

I've got a new book!  It's a paperback, titled Galoran and Melchior , and I cowrote it with my husband, Robert Bouchard.  Here's...

Jerusalem is an unusual city.  For starters, it's the only major city in the world not built on a body of water (lake, river, ocean).  T...

The Shroud of Turin is a remarkable object, a piece of linen with an image of a dead man depicted with dark red stains that might (maybe) be...