Leiden Medievalists Blog

Historical linguistics

Etymological questions about medieval cunts

Medieval Dutch conte is linguistically related to the English word cunt. But the origin of both the Dutch word and the English word is unknown. In this article, the etymological intricacies of the Middle Dutch word are explored

Alexia Kerkhof • 05-04-2019

Cultural History · Manuscript Studies

Collecting Collections: Analysing Alphabets in Medieval Manuscripts

A, B, C and ᚠ, ᚢ, ᚦ: why were early medieval scholars interested in collecting alphabets? Leiden medievalist Aya Van Renterghem introduces her new Leverhulme post-doctoral research project.

Aya Van Renterghem • 22-03-2019

Cultural History · Political History · Socio-Economic History

Een rebelse weduwe

Conflicten werden in de middeleeuwen niet altijd met geweld beslecht. Soms gaf een vorst de voorkeur aan financiële maatregelen, bijvoorbeeld tegen een grafelijke weduwe die zich verzette tegen de politiek van haar familie.

Margreet Brandsma • 08-03-2019

Archaeology

Reading the medieval townscape of Leiden: Fullers, fullers' canals and tentergrounds

Before the Langebrug was covered or - maybe more accurately - bridged over, this street was known as the Vollersgracht (Fullers' Canal). And, despite what its name suggests, hardly any fullers lived there in the late 15th and 16th centuries.

Roos van Oosten • 21-02-2019

Cultural History · Archaeology

How to communicate in Medieval Russia?

This blog post explores how everyday medieval life is reflected in the short messages that people wrote on pieces of birchbark in Novgorod between the 11th and 15th century.

Jos Schaeken • 08-02-2019

Cultural History · Art History · Literature

Rumi and the Hollywood Stars: The Source of Brad Pitt’s Tattoo

It is almost hard to find a celebrity without a tattoo, but why should the tattoo be from a Persian mystic poet from the thirteenth century? How should we look at such texts?

Asghar Seyed Gohrab • 25-01-2019

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