Fast Days in the Middle Ages Meat was forbidden by Church law on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and also during Lent, when the consumption of eggs was also forbidden. (Friday is commonly known to be a day on which fish was eaten, but Wednesday and Saturday are a bit more obscure. Find out a bit [...]

I have been reading The Scourging Angel by Benedict Gummer, which is an account of the Black Death in Britain. The books is well worth a look if you are interested in this period of history during the Middle Ages. One thing I came across that I didn’t know is what happened to Jewish populations [...]

According to a report on a new study in the Guardian the Black Death was not spread by rats, and there’s even some debate about whether it was plague at all. The evidence against rats (in London at least) is the lack of rate skeletons found. Barney Sloane says that you’d expect to see lots [...]

I have just been reading some old Nemesis the Warlock stories (one of my favourite 2000 AD characters when I was a kid), and I’m also reading Dan Simmons’ Endymion at the same time. I suddenly had a moment of clarity and readlised that I had been picturing the Shrike as looking a lot like [...]

I’m glad to pass this update on regarding Wikipedia – apparently the stats are wrong and they are not losing lots of editors: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8382477.stm A big relief I am sure. I for one really appreciate Wikipedia as an easy way to get quick information and to start research into an area of interest. As Cory [...]

Can Wikipedia be relied upon in the future as a serious source of information? Although I think you always need to check facts and references, Wikipedia in the past has always been a sound source of information. But, if, as reported, 49,000 editors have been lost, then surely the site is not going to stay [...]

As far as I know my thesis, which I completed over 10 years ago at the University of Birmingham, has probably been gathering a lot of dust in the library with no contact with anyone from the outside world. I thought it might be nice to share the content. As I say it’s over 10 [...]

I have added a page on the Ars Notoria, a medieval grimoire  attributed to Solomon. Ars Notoria means the Notory Art and was a form of magic that gave the user immediate and quick, note-like, knowledge of everything. A bit like Wikipedia perhaps? Incoming search terms:ars notoria meansars notoria wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia Good quote from Robert J. Sawyer‘s blog about the supposed death of science-fiction: “Science fiction isn’t dead; it’s in the witness-protection program, and thriving under a new identity.”

I have just been scanning through a number of descriptions of Hundred Years War battles over at Wikipedia (so not necessarily 100% accurate), and as I expected it seems that in no cases were dismounted men-at-arms sent against archers. However, in later years the French did start to perfect the tactic of charging the English [...]