Author: justhistoryposts
-
Ancient Wonders: The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
We tend to have a juxtaposed view of the ancient past: that people were simultaneously less advanced than us, with archaic views on women, people of different races, and little technology, but also great forefathers in maths, science, democracy, and capable of creating wondrous feats of engineering that even today we’re not quite sure how…
-
Magic and Robots: Medieval Automatons
When people think of the medieval or early modern period, often it conjures images of the witch trials across the western world. These people are considered a superstitious bunch, deeply religious, and very suspicious of magic. Whilst there is of course substance to some of these ideas (and I have already discussed one case of…
-
The Biggest Party Ever? The Field of the Cloth of Gold
In 1509, Henry VIII – one of England’s most famous monarchs – ascended the throne, ensuring the Tudor succession after his father, Henry VII, won the throne from Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth. After almost a decade of rule, the young King agreed to follow the advice of his close advisor, Cardinal Wolsey,…
-
Mythical Creatures: Medieval Mermaids
Mermaids are creatures that appear time and again throughout history and across cultures. Typically a mermaid is portrayed as having the top half of a woman, and the bottom half of a fish, though this sometimes varies slightly. The first known stories of mermaids come from Assyria around 1000BC; the goddess Atargatis, who was the…
-
Stand and Deliver, Your Money or Your Life: Female Highwaymen of the Seventeenth Century
As yesterday was International Women’s Day, I couldn’t resist writing a female-related post, and for this one I drew inspiration from a local legend in my area of the ‘Wicked Lady’. If you happen to pass through Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, you will probably notice a pub with the same name, and may hear the legend of…
-
World Book Day: Millennia of Firsts – a Brief History of the Book
As many of you may know, today – March 2nd – is World Book Day. Typically this is a day mostly celebrated by school children, often as an excuse to dress up as favourite book characters. As such, I decided that today’s blog post should be dedicated in its honour. Due to the nature of…
-
How Medieval Medicine is Helping us Today
Today, many people have very staunchly held beliefs on medicine and cures for all sorts of ailments. Some people rigidly champion ‘western’ medicine, only believing in the effectiveness of drugs prescribed by doctors, usually in the form of man-made pills. Others go for the ‘alternative’ medicine route, preferring to use natural products in the form…
-
Medieval Dating Tips; or, How to Bag Yourself an Eligible Lord or Lady
According to Andreas Capellanus, a late twelfth-century author, “Love is an inborn suffering proceeding from the sight and immoderate thought upon the beauty of the other sex”. This Valentine’s Day, whether you have a special someone or not, I’m sure that, like mine, your Facebook feed is probably full of engagements, gushing declarations of love,…
-
The Enduring Appeal of a Lolcat: Ancient and Medieval Cats as Pets
If you have spent as much as half an hour on the internet, then you cannot have missed the fact that the internet is obsessed with cats. From the website that popularised the idea of the Lolcat, to the millions of Youtube videos of the furry creatures (the top result for “cat” on Youtube is…
-
Is Selfie Culture New? Vanity Through Time
If you’re one of those pesky ‘Millennials’ then you’ve probably heard someone of an older generation (or even of your own) complaining about the vanity of youths today. We post pictures of ourselves on Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram. We send silly pictures to our friends, we show anyone who might follow us on social media…
Just History Posts 