Medieval Histories

From 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 bodily performance to sacred image: how the living Francis of Assisi was transformed after his death through memory, hagiography and visual culture. Read more

St. Francis of Assisi was a short man, with dark eyes and large ears. He was definitely also a charming man. Read more

New book explores the Franciscans and their relationship with manuscript production networks operating in Umbrian the 13th and 14th centuries Read more

Franciscan 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 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

The 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

St. 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

The title of the Papal Encyclical, Laudato Si, is the refrain of the Canticle of Creation by Francis of Assisi. But what did the saint really mean by using this phrase? Read more

In January 2025, a major programme of conservation and research began on the tomb of Otto the Great in Magdeburg Cathedral as serious deterioration had been discovered Read more

Not only do we possess what is likely an eyewitness account from AD 973 of the death of Emperor Otto the Great, but recent studies of his remains might fit the description. Read more

German historians of the 19th and early 20th centuries claimed that Otto the Great (912–973) was responsible for consolidating Germany as a nation. Modern historians tell a more nuanced story. Read more

Was 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

Since 2012, archaeologists and scientists have been poking through 1300 bones, the remains of kings, queens and bishops laid to rest in the mortuary chests in Winchester Cathedral.  Read more

Pollen studies from the area around Lake Constance in southern Germany show that biodiversity increased dramatically after around AD 500, before reaching a maximum around the year 1000. The question is why. Read more

When Greenland was settled by Norse immigrants in AD 997, it was uninhabited. From the outset it became part of the Danish–Scandinavian world Read more