Crusades

Cultural History · Art History · Manuscript Studies

What has Cleopatra to do with the Crusades?

What does a picture of a dark-skinned Cleopatra do in a fourteenth-century manuscript produced at the papal court in Avignon?

Military History · Archaeology

Deciphering the Feudal Landscapes of Crusader Peloponnese

They have been described as castles, castle towns or simply fortified medieval villages. The hilltop settlements of the late-medieval Peloponnese dominate the landscape as relics of its feudal past. Yet, their identity, origin, purpose and chronology remain ambiguous.

Crewing the Galleys to Turkey: Forced Labour in the Fifteenth-Century Low Countries

In 1464, twenty-five men were sentenced to penal labour on the galleys by the reeve of the bailiwick (meierij) of ’s-Hertogenbosch in Brabant. Who were these men and how did they meet this fate?

Cultural History · Socio-Economic History

Play piggy games, win piggy prizes: Swine entertainment in medieval Europe

At medieval carnivals and country fairs, various games involving pigs took place. This blog post discusses four instances of this remarkable swine entertainment in medieval Europe.

Archaeology

The Latin Aegean: crusade, colonialism, and commercialisation

Small, victimised, and on the fringe, though not over and done. How crusading shaped Late Byzantine socioeconomic life and how the Aegean world defied Latin dominance in times of conquest and exploitation. A story told from history and archaeology.

Military History

Op kruistocht tegen de Turken! ...en te laat aankomen

In 1532 vertrok een legertje huurlingen onder leiding van de Duitse Orde vanuit Utrecht richting Wenen ter bestrijding van de Ottomanen. Ze kwamen te laat.

Military History

Op kruistocht tegen de Turken! Vechten tegen een buitenlandse vijand voor steun in eigen land

In 1594 namen twee ridderbroeders van de Duitse Orde deel aan de strijd tegen de oprukkende Turken. Deze herleving van de kruistochtgedachte mondde uit in een militaire mislukking, maar een binnenlandse agenda was er wel mee gediend.