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"Saints are all around us, part of our daily lives whether we realize it or not. Plastic statues of Saint Christopher watch over commuters from the dashboard, 70,000 football fans in a New Orleans stadium chant "Saints, Saints, Saints!," and we say the names of American cities from Saint Petersburg (FL) to Saint Louis (MO) to Santa Barbara (CA) without giving much thought to the individuals they are named for."

Clothes are far more than a physical covering to protect the body from the elements; they can reveal much about a person. An evening gown, a doctor's white coat, cowboy boots-today these can all be clues to social status, profession, or geographic origin.

From the Getty Museum. Making parchment and illuminating manuscripts.

"We got a kick out of this recent io9 post fact-checking 10 misconceptions about the Middle Ages. Drawing on a particularly awesome r/AskHistorians thread, the post untangles popular myths about the "Dark Ages," including that peasants were all the same (NOT), and that women never pursued a trade (FAKE). As manuscripts curators who spend our days studying the visual evidence of the Middle Ages (and our nights watching fantasy shows), we'd like to offer yet more visual ammo to debunk four of our favorite myths."

"Chivalric customs arose from the medieval knight's code of conduct, and were gradually adopted by aristocrats and society as a whole. This video traces some of the surprising early applications of chivalry through medieval illuminated manuscripts."