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"Ever since antiquity astronomy has consisted of both theory and observation, but these two components have often received different treatments in the original sources. In the medieval period we find many texts that present theories (even new theories) for the motions of the Sun, the Moon, and the planets; and other texts that describe instruments (some newly invented) for making observations. Moreover, medieval scholars carefully read various works that survived from antiquity, notably Ptolemy's Almagest, and these treatises served as a guide for the scientific study of astronomy. In particular, Ptolemy described methods of determining the planetary models (or parts of them) from sets of dated observations, and he gave numerous examples (including many based on observations he himself made) which take up a major portion of his magnus opus. In this respect, however, the vast majority of his successors did not follow him, for we find surprisingly few planetary observations in the medieval astronomical corpus. (A similar paucity of observations of the Sun, the Moon, and eclipses has also been noted.) Indeed, in most astronomical tables compiled in the Middle Ages observations play no role, and it can be demonstrated that the tabular entries are largely based on earlier astronomical theories."

The Romance language group (or Gallo-Romance) in the north of France is that of the langue d'oïl, the languages which use oïl (in modern usage, oui) for "yes". These languages, like Picard, Walloon, and Francien, were influenced by the Germanic languages spoken by the Frankish invaders; Norman was later also heavily influenced by the Norse settlers who founded the Norman state of Normandy. From the time period Clovis I on, the Franks extended their rule over northern Gaul. Over time, the French language developed from either the Oïl language found around Paris and Ile-de-France (the Francien theory) or from a standard administrative language based on common characteristics found in all Oïl languages (the lingua franca theory). Oïl derives from the Latin hoc ille ("that is it").

The French state has its origin in the middle ages. Before the 13th century, the king of France had very little power. He had to deal with many other feudal lords, some of which were more powerful than him. He had, however a model : the Roman catholic Church who had just reorganized itself. The pope was surrounded by jurists as advisors. Roman law had been rediscovered too : the corpus iuris civilis of Justinian. Canon law had been codified according to this model with the decree of Gratien.

"Another year, another crackpot Battle of Hastings theory. Last year it was 'the battle was fought somewhere else'. This year it's 'King Harold survived the battle'. This one is, if anything, even more feeble and confused, so let's put it to bed as soon as possible."

"The journal issue looks at scientific breakthroughs of the past few years, including the 2011 sequencing of the genome of the plague pathogen entirely from historical remains, and the theory that a "big bang" of the organism occurred between the 12th and 14th centuries in an area now part of China, ultimately causing the Black Death pandemic. "