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Fake Viking Swords: But not Modern Fakes!Archaeologists and collectors of Viking swords have been pondering a strange fact: some of the best Viking swords ever found bear the name of their maker, Ulfberht, on the metal...
Source : about.com | 03-Jan-2009 12:39
Best Russian Vote
The recent trend for countries to vote for their best citizen has reached Russia, which this week unveiled the results of their poll. First was Alexander Nevsky, a medieval commander...
Source : about.com | 03-Jan-2009 12:39
Did Rap Originate in Medieval Scotland?
This is a slightly bizarre story, so I’m just going to summarise and point you to where I saw it reported: American Professor Ferenc Szasz is arguing that a Scottish...
Source : about.com | 03-Jan-2009 12:38
Medieval 'Child Bishop' Custom Revived
A medieval English tradition is being revived in Hampshire: a nine year old girl has been made a Bishop for December. The Rev Carrie Thompson explains: "In medieval times, they...
Source : about.com | 27-Dec-2008 11:51
The Development of Mary
The online part of the Boston Globe (and probably the print edition) has this week published an interview with Miri Rubin, a Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History in...
Source : about.com | 27-Dec-2008 11:51
German Windows Returned
Medieval stained glass windows from a church in Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany, have been returned by Russia, who looted them during World War 2. The Russians didn’t actually take...
Source : about.com | 27-Dec-2008 11:51
"House of European History"
The European Parliament is sponsoring a new museum to open in Brussels in 2014: the “House of European History”. According to reports the museum will cover the history of Europe...
Source : about.com | 20-Dec-2008 10:17
Roman Battlefield Revises Understanding?
Archaeologists working in northern Germany have uncovered evidence of a Roman battlefield. Arrowheads, axes, 300 bolts thrown by Roman “scorpio” weapons (think bolt throwers) and coins have all been found...
Source : about.com | 20-Dec-2008 10:17
Team to Save Churches
The British government have announced plans to use £1.5 million to part fund a team of experts who will help save Britain’s churches. These religious structures are among the oldest...
Source : about.com | 20-Dec-2008 10:17
Was the Roman Empire Damaged by Climate Change?
A recently published study on climate has prompted some to ask the question: was the Roman Empire (and its later incarnation as the Byzantine Empire) brought low by changes in...
Source : about.com | 13-Dec-2008 11:30
Planned Destruction in Moscow
When Napoleon marched into Moscow in 1812, he found the city ablaze, a gift from the departing population designed to defeat him. If Hitler’s forces had made it to Moscow...
Source : about.com | 13-Dec-2008 11:30
"Dart Bomber"
In the later years of World War II, Nazi Germany searched desperately for a weapon which would turn the tide back in their favour. The many brainstormings produced a lot...
Source : about.com | 13-Dec-2008 11:30
Catalan Christmas Tradition Question
This week I was sent a link to a US news report from 2002 explaining about “caganers”, a Catalan tradition going back to the eighteenth century. The article claimed these...
Source : about.com | 06-Dec-2008 12:53
Denouncing in WW2 France
A recent conference in France broke a taboo recently by discussing the issue of denouncing in France during World War 2. Organiser and historian Laurent Joly said the conference couldn’t...
Source : about.com | 06-Dec-2008 12:53
More British Documents Online
Three million pages of government papers dating from the Tudor and Stuart era are to go online in a project which promises to be a real boon for historians of...
Source : about.com | 06-Dec-2008 12:52
Is this Lucrezia Borgia?
Lucrezia Borgia is the most infamous member of one of the Renaissance’s best known families, the Borgias, thanks to a popular, but probably entirely false, reputation as a poisoner. Until...
Source : about.com | 29-Nov-2008 13:09
Polish Leader to be Exhumed to (try to) Solve Mystery
The body of General Wladyslaw Sikorski, the leader of Poland’s government in exile from 1939 until his death in 1943, is to be exhumed for a forensic examination. Sikorski died...
Source : about.com | 29-Nov-2008 13:09
Photo Study finds more History
You might think that, being a heavily populated island, Britain’s historical sites are all well known, but the truth is they’re not. For example, archaeologists have just finished a study...
Source : about.com | 29-Nov-2008 13:09
New British WW1 Veteran "Found"
Over the last few years there has been a debate in Britain about whether the last surviving British veteran of WW1, whoever it may be, should be given a state...
Source : about.com | 22-Nov-2008 12:57
New Mary Rose Sinking Theory
Conventional wisdom holds that a very tight turn, coupled with open gun ports and a freak gust of wind, conspired to tilt British ship the Mary Rose over to such...
Source : about.com | 22-Nov-2008 12:56
Public Support Memorial to Bomber Command
A campaign in Britain to erect a memorial to the pilots and airmen killed during the aerial bombardment of Germany during WW2 has raised £500,000 ($750,000) in just three weeks,...
Source : about.com | 22-Nov-2008 12:56
Google Returns to Ancient Rome
Google have added a new "layer" to Google Earth. Now you can take a virtual tour of the entire city as historians believe it may have looked c.320 CE, with...
Source : about.com | 15-Nov-2008 13:56
Video of Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle is best known today for his stories about (now legendary) detective Sherlock Holmes, films of which have gone a long way to influencing how people view Britain...
Source : about.com | 15-Nov-2008 13:55
Hadrian’s Wall Repairs
Hadrian’s Wall was a continuous fortification which stretched across northern Britain, from the east to west coast, to act as a defence for the northern limits of the Roman Empire....
Source : about.com | 15-Nov-2008 13:54
90th Anniversary of the End of World War 1
November 11 2008 will be the ninetieth anniversary of the end of World War 1, when an armistice came into effect at 11:00 am. Consequently there has been a lot...
Source : about.com | 08-Nov-2008 12:37
Modern Celebrity Began in the Eighteenth Century?
A press release from the University of Warwick explains a new theory on celebrity, explaining how the rise in popularity of obituaries in the eighteenth century developed into our “cult”...
Source : about.com | 08-Nov-2008 12:35
Bletchley Park Receives Funding
I reported a few months ago how Bletchley Park, site of code breakers who aided the Allied war effort during World War 2, was in need of funding to survive...
Source : about.com | 08-Nov-2008 12:34
Battle of Agincourt Raises Debate
Last weekend British newspapers were up in arms about comments allegedly made by Christophe Gilliot, director of the Centre Historique Médiéval, a museum in Agincourt, France. He was supposed to...
Source : about.com | 01-Nov-2008 19:14
"Amulet that ruined my life"
Britain’s Times newspaper this week reported on the "other side" of a recent controversy. It concerns Quentin Hutchinson, who in 1990 excavated a silver Christian amulet from an allegedly undisturbed...
Source : about.com | 01-Nov-2008 19:13
Medieval World Making a Comeback?
Tom Holland, author of a number of easily read popular histories, has written an article wondering about the resurgence of the middle ages in popular fiction, as well as the...
Source : about.com | 01-Nov-2008 19:12
Medieval Manuscripts Online
A library called the Stiftsbibliothek (abbey library) in St. Gallen, Switzerland, has received a $1 million dollar grant to digitize and place online its manuscript collection, including 350 documents which...
Source : about.com | 24-Oct-2008 14:27
Spanish Enigma Machines Found
I love a story about people finding things, and one caught my eye this week. Historians know that Spanish General Franco used Nazi Enigma machines in his command of Nationalist...
Source : about.com | 24-Oct-2008 14:26
Pirates, Corporations, Credit Crunch
This article from Science Daily attempts to make a parallel between modern corporations and the organisation of pirates and privateers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, bringing the “credit crunch”...
Source : about.com | 24-Oct-2008 14:25
Should Governments Enforce Historical Orthodoxy?
I try and avoid contemporary politics on this blog, but I felt a recent article by Timothy Garton Ash was sufficiently thought provoking to include. The article in question concerns...
Source : about.com | 17-Oct-2008 20:08
Auction House Acts over Illegal Artefacts
This week auction house Bonhams withdrew ten items from sale after being informed by the Italian embassy that the objects had possibly been looted by real life tomb raiders and...
Source : about.com | 17-Oct-2008 20:08
Roman Finds
I saw a number of Roman era archaeological discoveries this week: Also in Rome the tomb of a second century CE Roman nobleman, Marcus Nonius Macrinus, was discovered. The tomb was...
Source : about.com | 17-Oct-2008 20:07
Stonehenge: Older than Thought?
Excavations carried out at Stonehenge earlier this year indicate that the famous stones may have been erected 500 years earlier than currently believed, albeit in different positions. The current orthodoxy...
Source : about.com | 10-Oct-2008 19:31
World War 2 and Statistics
World War 2 was more than just soldiers and tanks, as this article by Gavyn Davies amply demonstrates. He explains the role played by statisticians in producing a formula which...
Source : about.com | 10-Oct-2008 19:31
World War 1 "Artist"
Several British news sources this week reported on the story of Leonard Smith, a Sapper with the British Royal Engineers during World War 1. He was tasked with providing detailed...
Source : about.com | 10-Oct-2008 19:31
800 Year Old Law Ends
Last week a 600g loaf of bread went on sale in England. This was unusual, as previously a law had decreed that all loaves sold in England had to be...
Source : about.com | 03-Oct-2008 21:51
Dresden Death Toll Reduced?
The Allied bombing of Dresden during World War 2, which destroyed 85% of the city, has been the subject of great debate recently, with some people complaining that the action...
Source : about.com | 03-Oct-2008 21:51
Hitler Assassination Story
One of the questions I’ve heard about World War 2 is why weren’t there attempts to assassinate Hitler, with the implication that disgruntled Germans should have acted. While this view...
Source : about.com | 03-Oct-2008 21:50
Key Gun to go on Display in Britain
The gun fired by an assassin in his, successful, attempt to kill Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, thereby triggering the powder-keg of European politics and leading directly to the start...
Source : about.com | 26-Sep-2008 20:02
Napoleonic.org gets a Facelift
The “Fondation Napoléon” is dedicated to the study of all things Napoleon, and their website is one of the better resources on the web about the Emperors of France. It...
Source : about.com | 26-Sep-2008 20:02
Charge of the Polish Cavalry
Polishnews.com has published an account of the “Last Great Charge of the Polish Cavalry”. Any guesses as to when this was? Well, the answer was actually 1939, against the invading...
Source : about.com | 26-Sep-2008 20:00
Working Spitfire Auctioned
The Spitfire is the iconic British plane of the Second World War. While its precise role in the Battle of Britain – the aerial war fought between Britain and Germany...
Source : about.com | 19-Sep-2008 23:16