August 18, 2010 | Posted by Mark
From Canto I of Dante’s Inferno: Midway along the journey of our life I woke to find myself in a dark wood, for I had wandered off from the straight path. These are the opening lines to Dante’s great poem, and probably the most famous poem of the Middle Ages. What better way to start [...]
Categories: Medieval Literature, Poetry | 
Tags: Dante Alighieri, God, Literature, Medieval, Middle Ages, Poetry | 
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August 12, 2010 | Posted by Mark
This looks quite interesting, but shame there are no screenshots or videos. Wonder how it will compare to Medieval Total War? The screenshots of their previous game HISTORYTM Great Battles of Rome, look very Total War like. Here’s some info: HISTORYTM Great Battles Medieval is based on the historical events of the Hundred Years War, [...]
Categories: Games, Medieval History | Tags: England, Hundred Years War, Middle Ages | View Comments
August 11, 2010 | Posted by Mark
I blogged about the fantastic Pase Domesday project yesterday, which is an online reference tool to access data about people and places from the Domesday Book. What I should have mentioned as well is what seems to not be available from Pase Domesday, which is all the detail of what customs and fees are owed [...]
Categories: Medieval History | Tags: Domesday Book, England, History, Medieval, Middle Ages, Pase Domesday, Social Sciences, William the Conqueror | View Comments
August 10, 2010 | Posted by Mark
We seem to have a Norman theme today! You can now search the Domesday Book online thanks to the PASE Domesday project run by King’s College, London and the University of Cambridge. Here’s a sample output for the town where I grew up (click on the image to see it in detail): You can also [...]
Categories: Medieval History, Research | Tags: Domesday Book, England, History, Medieval, Middle Ages, William the Conqueror | View Comments
August 10, 2010 | Posted by Mark
As a follow-up to yesterday’s post about Inside the Medieval Mind, I should also mention that there’s a major BBC series running at the moment about the Normans in England. Again it is written and narrated by Professor Robert Bartlett. I haven’t seen any of them yet, but I am sure it is worth seeing. [...]
Categories: Medieval History | Tags: BBC, Medieval Mind, Middle Ages, Norman, Robert Bartlett, Television | View Comments
August 2, 2010 | Posted by Mark
Although George R. R. Martin‘s A Song of Ice and Fire series are fantasy fiction, and therefore anything goes, there is no denying that it is set within a fairly strong medieval setting. The Knights, titled Ser rather Sir, ride warhorses, joust with lances, feast in castle halls etc. I think one of the strengths [...]
Categories: Book Review - Fantasy, Medieval History | Tags: Clash of Kings, Dover Castle, Fantasy, George R. R. Martin, History, Middle Ages, Song of ice & fire | View Comments
June 9, 2010 | Posted by Mark
My story Bird Talk is about a young priest, Roger, living in a small medieval English town, who is trying to uncover what he believes are foul magical deeds. But instead he manages to implicate the women he loves in accusations of witchcraft and, with the help of the town drunk, must work out a [...]
Categories: Bird Talk, Magic, Medieval Belief, Writing | Tags: Hoopoe, Magic (paranormal), Middle Ages | View Comments
June 2, 2010 | Posted by Mark
Unfortunately no preview available for the Kindle version! Here’s the synopsis though in case you’re interested: My thesis aims to explore certain links between literature and society in the portrayal of courtly society in a group of alliterative texts: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Awntyrs off Arthure at the Terne Wathelyn, Morte Arthure, Wars [...]
Categories: Medieval Literature, Writing | Tags: Alliterative verse, Green Knight, Middle Ages, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight | View Comments
April 2, 2010 | Posted by Mark
The main theme I was exploring in The Easy River to Success was how the plethora of Get Rich Quick schemes that seem to clog the Internet like bindweed are sort of similar to the use of demonology of necromancy in the Middle Ages. Those who attempted to practice the summoning of demons, or related [...]
Categories: Easy River to Success, Writing | Tags: Alchemy, Easy River to Success, Middle Ages, Necromancy | View Comments
