It is thought that Geoffrey Chaucer started The Canterbury Tales in the 1380s, but he never finished them. They are a collection of 24 stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English, mostly in verse, although some are in prose. They are presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group […]

Life in Medieval Europe was characterized by frequent local famines as well as by fear from starvation. Slow progress of agricultural technology and medieval social order held back the economic progress and resulted in the constant insecurity. Medieval famines were predominantly local with exception of the Great Famine of 1315-1317 which struck almost whole Europe […]

Medieval warfare is best known for direct armed confrontations but siege warfare played a major role as well. Holding strategically important castles and fortresses granted control over the territory. All medieval castles, fortresses and cities had massive defensive walls and their own garrisons, stationed troops which defended the castle, fortress or a city in case […]

In 1346, Edward III of England claimed kingship of France in addition to that of England. He backed up this assertion by defeating the French navy at Sluys in 1340, then leading raids through Normandy that culminated in the 1346 Battle of Crecy. By this time, the English army couldn’t continue any further without fresh […]

Christianity became the leading religion in the Medieval Times, while Christian doctrine of divine right and salvation by suffering provided the basis for the establishment of feudalism and feudal society. The Christian Church was organized in a strict hierarchical structure of a pyramid and remained practically unchanged until nowadays. The Pope was on the top […]

The social organization of the barbarian peoples after the fall of Rome and Migration Period slowly disappeared and adjusted to the military organization. Tribal and military leaders began to form a special class of aristocracy which was subdued to a king and gained possession of former Roman estates together with their working force (slaves and […]

The invasion of barbaric peoples in the Early Middle Ages resulted in the change of fashion and style of clothing. Little is known about clothing of the invading peoples before they reached Europe. Men commonly wore short tunics with belts and visible trousers, hose or leggings and a cloak – animal leather or fur in […]

After the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, the barbarian kings and military leaders seized the former Roman estates together with their working force (slaves and coloni), while the remained area was eventually settled by other members of the invading peoples as free peasants. Slaves, coloni – tenant farmers who worked on latifundias (large Roman […]

The position of children in the medieval society is very unclear. Children were ignored by medieval artists, while angels were not depicted as children with wings like in later period but as adults. The Child Jesus was represented as a “dwarf” which did not interested the artist nor the orderer of the artistic work or […]

Food was an obsession for the medieval society but the majority of population consisting of serfs had to be satisfied with little. Their main foods were gruel and porridge combined with whatever was available in the nature like cabbage, beets, onions, garlic, carrots, various legumes such as beans and peas, and variety more or less […]