Middle ages illustration

Jousting competitions between towns excited passions which, far from releasing citizens into some escapist unreality, could plunge them instead into violence.

In a plastic bucket beside the counter sat a dozen roses, each one individually wrapped, slightly faded, but with their heads held firmly erect in the stiff plastic. Each one would doubtless be bou…

“What do they want to say to me?” 8/24/21

Maybe it's because it's Friday and I've been nursing a cold all week long, or maybe it's because it's Halloween and I'm feeling particularly irreverent, but I figure that

Clavis Artis is an alchemical manuscript published in Germany in three volumes in the late 17th or early 18th century...

How to Slay a Dragon by Cait Stevenson - Grab your magical sword and take the place of your favorite fantasy character with this fun and historically accurat...

Up until the 14th century there was little, if any, representation of the countryside and its buildings in frescoes. Vegetation and architectural features were just used to decorate the borders of …

The Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts Blog is written by curators in the British Library's Department of History and Classics. It publicises all aspects of the Library's work on western manuscripts produced before 1600, including our digitisation and cataloguing projects, exhibitions and publications.

Explore griffinlb's 2195 photos on Flickr!

Karl Alexander Wilke (1879-1954) part 26...