There is a manuscript in the British Library with two famous illuminations of early English queens. The images below do not really do them justice. What looks like a brownish colour is […]
A Case of Mistaken Identity: Ealhswith and Æthelswith
Defining Queenship in the West Saxon Dynasty
Exactly what constituted a queen in ninth- and tenth-century England is a key topic of Matthew Firth‘s new book, Early English Queens, 850-1000: Potestas Reginae. Queenship is not always easy to define. […]
The St. Brice’s Day Massacre: History, Archaeology, and Myth
The St Brice’s day massacre looms large over the legacy of Æthelred II (978-1013/1014-1016) as a well-known tale often held to exemplify the English king’s reign: a poorly considered act of fear, […]
A Scribe’s Life (5): The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles
This article is part of an ongoing series of short biographies of medieval scribes (except not really this time – we’re more focused on the source itself). Scribe: Multiple, unknown Lived: c.890 – […]
Blood Eagles and Fatal Walks Revisited: Orms þáttr stórólfssonar
It’s nearly two years since we posted our article on the viking tortures of literature and the likelihood that the acts as described ever occurred. This included two implausible instances of brutality: […]
Reading England in the Icelandic Sagas: Cultural Memory and Archaeology
‘In those days’, Gunnlaugs saga relates of the eleventh-century, ‘the language in England was the same as that spoken in Norway and Denmark’. It is an assertion which raises some compelling questions […]
Queenship and Power: The Political Life of Emma of Normandy
There are few women in late Anglo-Saxon England for whom we have as much information as Emma of Normandy. The wife of two kings, we find her name in charter witness lists, […]
Chaucer and English Maritime Culture
There is something of the sea inherent in English identity. After all, the ocean makes up over 90% of England’s borders, it has long dictated external political and military policy, and defined […]
Owain and the Giant Herdsman – Identifying Celtic Mythology in the Mabinogion
The tale Yvain ou le Chevalier au Lion (Yvain, Knight of the Lion) is simultaneously one of the most famous of the Arthurian romances, and one of the more bizarre. In essence […]
The Battle of Bannockburn: English Arrogance and the Failure of Edward II
Edward I is considered by many to be the mightiest warrior and most formidable leader of the Plantagenet kings; which, considering the competition, is an impressive feat. So, the question has to […]
A Scribe’s Life (3): Snorri Sturluson
This article is part of an ongoing series of short biographies of medieval scribes. Scribe: Snorri Sturluson Lived c. 1179 – 1241 Location: Reykholt, Iceland Notable works: Prose Edda – literary work, […]
A Scribe’s Life (2): John of Worcester
This article is part of an ongoing series of short biographies of medieval scribes. Scribe: John of Worcester Lived: c.1075 – 1140 Location: Worcester Priory Notable works: Chronicon ex chronicis John of […]
A Scribe’s Life (1): William of Malmesbury
This is the first of an ongoing series of short biographies of medieval scribes. Scribe: William of Malmesbury Lived c. 1095 – 1143 Location: Malmesbury Abbey, England Notable works: Gesta regum Anglorum […]
The Image of the King – 10 Portraits from Medieval England
Early medieval England did not have the rich tradition of royal portraiture that existed among in the contemporary Byzantine, Ottonian, and Carolingian courts. Our earliest images outside of numismatics (coinage) date from […]
A Case of Clerical Diplomacy – King Æthelstan and the Church in York
A man of no mean ambition, by 927 King Æthelstan found himself walking on untrodden ground, the ruler of much of what we would consider modern England. His grandfather, Alfred, had beaten […]
The Postgrad Chronicles 