Cleaning Up the Dirty Middle Ages

:: in November 27, 2023 :: in Blog :: 1 comment

One of the most irritating misconceptions about the Middle Ages is that people back then bathed once a year or so – it is a myth I keep fighting. I am very happy to say that recently my article on this subject has been published by JSTOR Daily (available HERE)….

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UNDERWEAR MYSTERY IN “THE DECAMERON”

:: in March 31, 2023 :: in Blog :: 1 comment

Many years ago, when I had an honour – still being a student – to present my paper on certain medieval manuscript on a Very Serious Meeting of the art historians, the Very Serious Audience got themselves into a discussion: was it acceptable for a young aspiring scholar (i.e. me)…

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Merry children’s games from past centuries

:: in January 8, 2023 :: in Blog :: 4 comments

My previous post was dedicated to female artists in the Middle Ages; of course artistic activities of women are better documented when it comes to the Early Modern Times. One of the known female artists was an engraver Claudine Bouzonnet-Stella (1636-1697). She was a daughter of a goldsmith named Étienne…

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Shitload of fun

:: in July 28, 2021 :: in Blog :: 2 comments

I observe various medievalists on Twitter, and lately I came across a tweet that thoroughly amused me: apparently smiling poop emoji 💩 has a late medieval source of inspiration. As I like to repeat: everything already happened in the Middle Ages.     As it happens, the motif of excrement quite…

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Elephant and mandrake

:: in June 27, 2021 :: in Blog :: 0 comments

A few times already I have written about medieval bestiaries, that is about books on animals. They include descriptions of both fantastic beasts (see HERE and HERE), as well as real animals, albeit often with rather legendary approach (see HERE). In the latter group was undoubtedly and elephant. Medieval bestiaries…

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