The Avars – a Case Study in How to Use Genetics to Understand the Lifeworld of People in the Migratory Period
In AD 568 about 20-30.000 arrived from the wider Eurasian Steppe to settle in the Carpathian Basin, where they built an impressive Kharganate ruling much of present day Hungary and Austria. But who were these people? And why were they so succesfull? And what role does archaeogenetics play in answering these questions?
How Ancient DNA Is Rewriting the History of Early Medieval Europe
12/10/2026How Gene-Mapping Help us Decode Early Medieval Secrets Read more
The Avars and the Hungarians – Long Memories of Kinship
10/10/2026What can Avar cemeteries and a twentieth-century Hungarian village tell us about the extraordinary persistence of family traditions? Read more
The Avars were a Close-Knit Ethnic Group
01/05/2024The aDNA studies of the Avars, a Mongolian people who settled in the Carpathians in the 6th century, continue to yield new and fascinating insights into the formation of close-knit ethnic groups. Read more
Balkan was a Cosmopolitan Melting Pot in Late Antiquity
13/12/2023A recent study of the aDNA from 146 individuals buried in Serbia and Croatia demonstrates the cosmopolitan mixture of people in Late Antiquity Read more
The Genetic Origin of Huns, Avars, and conquering Hungarians
13/11/2022Who were the Huns? The Avars? And the conquering Hungarians? New studies of aDNA tell the story of a series of nomadic peoples, who may have kept themselves apart when migrating across the Eurasian Steppe. Read more
The Avars were a Mongolian People
30/04/2022The Avar Khaganate ruled the Carpathian Basin all the way to Caucasus between 557-793. New genetic studies identify them as a people which migrated from Mongoli Read more
From Jongleur to Icon: The Making of St Francis
From bodily performance to sacred image: how the living Francis of Assisi was transformed after his death through memory, hagiography and visual culture. Read the essay here…
St. Francis in Arezzo 1226-2026
08/10/2026New Exhibition in Arezzo showcases images from the 800 years since his death in 1226, and celebrates the multiple imaginations of who St. Francis was. Read more
Modern biographies of St. Francis
03/10/2026From Sabatier to Leppin, modern biographers have repeatedly reconstructed the “real” Francis, each revealing as much about their own age as about the saint Read more
From Jongleur to Icon: The Making of St Francis
03/10/2026From bodily performance to sacred image: how the living Francis of Assisi was transformed after his death through memory, hagiography and visual culture. Read more
MEDIEVAL SOURCE: Portrait of St. Francis of Assisi
01/10/2026St. Francis of Assisi was a short man, with dark eyes and large ears. He was definitely also a charming man. Read more
Medieval Poggibonsi and Surroundings
07/04/2017Heavily bombarded during WW2Poggibonsi’s charm resides in the suburbs and its hidden gems: an open-air museum, a medieval inn and a nearby castle Read more
Liturgy, Books and Franciscan Identity in Medieval Umbria
01/11/2015New book explores the Franciscans and their relationship with manuscript production networks operating in Umbrian the 13th and 14th centuries Read more
Franciscan Women – Medieval and Beyond
10/09/2015Franciscan Women: Medieval & Beyond is a conference designed to frame a mutually enriching conversation between academic scholars and franciscan women of today Read more
Franciscan Art in Florence
24/06/2015Franciscan art flourished in the Late Middle Ages as the religious movement spread all over Europe as well as Asia. This summer the Accademia in Florence shows a spectacular selection Read more
Newly found life of St. Francis published
24/06/2015A small notebook of obvious Franciscan origin was recently shown to contain a hitherto unknown Vita of St. Francis, written by Thomas di Celano. It has now been edited Read more
Romita di Cesi – Experience the true Franciscan Spirituality
23/06/2015The Romita de Cesi is a hermitage located on Mount Torre Maggiore near the Town of Cesi in Terni. Difficult to find, it offers a spiritual tranquillity reminiscent of the early Franciscans Read more
The Garden of St. Francis
22/06/2015St. Francis is known for his devotion to nature and generally recognised at the patron saint for the environment. But was he also a gardener? Read more
What Did St Francis Mean by “Laudato Si’”? The Canticle of Creation and Pope Francis
18/06/2015The title of the papal encyclical Laudato Si’ is taken from the refrain of the Canticle of Creation by Francis of Assisi. But what did the saint really mean by using this phrase? Read more
New Exhibitions
Nicolas Flamel – The Man Who Became an Alchemist After His Death
15/10/2026How did a wealthy Parisian property investor and benefactor become one of the most famous alchemists in history? A new exhibition at the Musée de Cluny in Paris explores this extraordinary transformation of Nicolas Flamel Read more
How Ancient DNA Is Rewriting the History of Early Medieval Europe
12/10/2026How Gene-Mapping Help us Decode Early Medieval Secrets Read more
St. Francis in Arezzo 1226-2026
08/10/2026New Exhibition in Arezzo showcases images from the 800 years since his death in 1226, and celebrates the multiple imaginations of who St. Francis was. Read more
New Research
Inside the Houses of the Canons of Notre-Dame in Fifteenth-Century Paris
18/10/2026A remarkable collection of post-mortem inventories reveals how the wealthy canons of Notre-Dame lived, worked and entertained in late medieval Paris. Read more
What Was an Escripvain in the Middle Ages? Scribes, Authors and the Business of Writing
18/10/2026What did it mean to be an escripvain (or escrivain) in medieval France? Was such a person a professional copyist, a clerk, a secretary, a notary or an author? And how did the meaning of the term change as manuscript production developed into an increasingly specialised commercial enterprise during the later Middle Ages? Read more
The Emperor’s Marble
08/09/2026Was the great antique marble slab covering Otto the Great’s tomb brought from Ravenna as imperial spolia – and chosen to evoke the world of Charlemagne? Read more
From meat and milk to sheep and grain
08/09/2026New research traces a millennium of changing animal husbandry and cereal production in medieval England Read more
New Books about the Middle Ages
Reading Medieval Paris: Fourteen Books on the City, Its Inhabitants and Its Urban Landscap
21/10/2026Medieval Paris was not simply a royal capital, a university town or a city of magnificent churches. It was also a crowded and constantly changing urban landscape, shaped by the Seine, its bridges and islands, the expansion of markets and neighbourhoods, and the competing interests of kings, bishops, monasteries, merchants… Read more
Constructing the Medieval Maritime State of Islamic Denia
14/10/2026How did a small Islamic principality on the eastern coast of Spain – Islamic Denia – become a major maritime power in the eleventh-century Mediterranean? A new study explores how warfare, commerce, slavery and cultural connections helped forge a medieval state Read more
Early Medieval Venice – How a City Emerged from the Lagoons
14/10/2026How did a collection of marshy islands on the northern Adriatic coast become one of medieval Europe’s most remarkable cities? A new study challenges the familiar story of Venice’s origins Read more
Repentance and Social Welfare in Renaissance Florence
13/10/2026Where did you go if you were a prostitute in Late Medieval Florence? The obvious place was the convent, Sant’Elisabetta delle Convertite, dedicated to enrole you in a life of penitence. Prostitution, Repentance and Social Welfare in Renaissance Florence: The Monastery of Sant’Elisabetta delle Convertite By Gillian Jack University of… Read more
Late Medieval Parish Churches in England
13/10/2026Who actually paid for, organised and built England’s late medieval parish churches? New book enters the discussion with a new contribution focusing on the distinct new design Read more
Chaucer’s England explored by Nicolas Orme
12/10/2026Who were Chaucer’s thirty-three pilgrims, and why were they heading to Canterbury? What do they and their tales tell us about medieval England as a place, and about the daily lives of its people? New book tells the story Read more
Resequencing the Middle Ages through Archaeogenetics
12/10/2026Between 2020 and 2026, Patrick J. Geary has been part of a large research project exploring the Genetic History of the Migration period (c. 400-700). Read more
Transregnal Kingship? Or Regal Kings?
13/08/2026How did medieval rulership over multiple kingdoms and lordships work out? A new book explores the political, but also the practical, challenges of rulership in the fluid territorial reality of the 13th century, while floating a new concept: “transregnal”. What might this mean? Read more