Search Results: Middle Ages

The lives of women in the Middle Ages were determined by the Church and the aristocracy. The medieval Church provided the 'big picture' of the meaning of life and one's place while the aristocracy ensured that everyone stayed in their respective...

Religion in the Middle Ages, though dominated by the Catholic Church, was far more varied than only orthodox Christianity. In the Early Middle Ages (c. 476-1000), long-established pagan beliefs and practices entwined with those of the new...

The medieval Church informed the people's religious imagination during the Middle Ages (c. 476-1500) and the world was therefore interpreted - even by heterodox Christians - through the Church's lens. Ghosts – referred to as revenants – were...

Women in the Middle Ages were frequently characterized as second-class citizens by the Church and the patriarchal aristocracy. Women's status was somewhat elevated in the High and Late Middle Ages by the cult of the Virgin Mary and courtly...

In the Middle Ages, attitudes to the human body were rife with contradictions: Glorified, oppressed, cared for, and chastised. A new temporary exhibition at the Swiss National Museum in Zürich – coveted. cared for. martyred. Bodies in the...

Cats in the Middle Ages were generally disapproved of, regarded as, at best, useful pests and, at worst, agents of Satan, owing to the medieval Church and its association of the cat with evil. Prior to the widespread acceptance of Christianity...

The medieval Church established its monopoly over the spiritual life of Europeans in the Early Middle Ages (c. 476-1000) and consolidated that power throughout the High Middle Ages (1000-1300) and Late Middle Ages (1300-1500). Along the way...

The monastic orders of the Middle Ages developed from the desire to live a spiritual life without the distractions of the world. Men and women who took religious vows were seeking a purity of experience they found lacking as lay people. Their...

Dogs have played a prominent role in the lives of humans going back thousands of years and, more than any other domesticated animal, this role has remained relatively unchanged. In the present day, dogs serve as guardians, perform tricks...

Antisemitism is a modern term that describes prejudice and hostility to Jews and Judaism. The origins of Christian antisemitism in the gospels are based on the story of a 1st-century itinerant Jewish preacher, Jesus of Nazareth, in the Roman...