I’ve just returned from a medieval festival in which the Battle of Evesham is recreated in the town where it took place in August 1265. In 1265, the battle was between the King of England (Henry III) and Simon de Montfort, the […]

There is a particular comfort in the idea of a lost land. To call a place “lost” is to suggest accident rather than intent, misfortune rather than resistance. It softens the violence required to take it back. Across centuries, rulers have returned […]

There is a tendency, when we think of medieval prayer, to imagine cloistered monks rising in the night, chanting in cold stone choirs, and returning to their cells in silence. And it is true: the great monastic houses ordered their entire existence […]

The lord of a border castle wakes at dawn, and begins his day with prayer. Kneeling before a simple crucifix, he recites the Lord’s Prayer in Latin, then reads from a psalter. By the time he rises, the household is stirring. The […]