"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."
"Behold, one and all, a freshly minted spreadsheet that contains a complete list of all the manuscripts uploaded to Digitised Manuscripts by us diligent digitisation devotees. A quite simply staggering 1111 manuscripts are now online for your delectation. "
"The Catholicon was the first such dictionary to have all of its entries arranged in alphabetical order. The positioning of vernacular words first, with Latin equivalents following, shows that it was intended to be used for Latin composition not translation. It would have been of particular utility in the grammar schools that were being founded in large numbers during the 15th century. "
"Rawcliffe finds that there were strong communal efforts on building and maintaining public toilets - in addition to the money spent by civic governments, individuals made donations and bequests to assist in their upkeep.
So, if you happen to find yourself in a medieval city and need to find a toilet, look for the nearest bridge!"
"Despite the quality of the primary sources, almost everything about Hastings is up for debate: the course of the action, the numbers on each side and, famously, whether or not Harold was killed by an arrow in the eye. As one of the foremost experts of the previous century, R. Allen Brown, once ruefully observed, sometimes the only certainty about Hastings seems to be that the Normans won."
"In this episode, Marc Morris argues that, contrary to received wisdom, the Normans did not enslave England's Anglo-Saxon population, but were in fact their liberators.
You can read Marc's article, Breaking the Bonds, in the March issue of History Today, which is out now.
Listen to the podcast on this page using the player above. Alternatively, you can download it from iTunes, download it as an MP3 or subscribe via RSS."
"Research that suggests the battle of Hastings took place on the site of what is now a mini roundabout on the A2100 is "no more than informed guesswork"."
"Lindisfarne is intimately connected with the history of Christianity in Britain. In 635 the Northumbrian king, Oswald (r.634-42), summoned an Irish monk named Aidan from Iona - the island-monastery off the south-west coast of what is now Scotland - to be bishop of his kingdom. Oswald granted Aidan and his companions the small tidal island of Lindisfarne on which to found a monastery."
"We are delighted to announce another forty-four Greek manuscripts have been digitised. As always, we are most grateful to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, the A. G. Leventis Foundation, Sam Fogg, the Sylvia Ioannou Foundation, the Thriplow Charitable Trust, the Friends of the British Library, and our other generous benefactors for contributing to the digitisation project. Happy exploring!"
"Medieval libraries in England were assembled in many places and for different purposes. Monastic libraries supported both theological education and the advancement of learning, and provided the seeds for later university libraries. Cathedrals and their schools likewise collected books and encouraged their reading. Royal libraries gathered both practical and artistic books, with illuminated manuscripts given and received as signs of wealth and power. However, our knowledge of these libraries can be described as limited at best. The majority of manuscripts have been lost over time, their greatest enemies being fire, war or insurrection, theft and neglect. So what can we know about the manuscripts contained in these medieval libraries? And how and where were these manuscripts produced?"
" here are just a few of the non-fiction books I've read and enjoyed. They reflect my interest in the UK and France (especially the fourteenth century), as you'll see."
