culture
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With permission of Kim Harding A last-minute change of speaker meant the frosty weather chimed perfectly with Kim Harding’s talk on ‘Medieval Winter’ on Monday 18th November 2025. Our centrally-heated homes and internet-driven prep for Xmas can’t compare to the hardships endured by medieval folk: a poor harvest, limited food storage and bitter cold meant…
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A receipt for the payment of 400 long pikes dated 16th December 1487 is held in an archive in Lille. These pikes were to be distributed to pikemen under the command of a knight from Germany called Martin Schwartz to serve the nephew of Margaret of Burgundy, son of Edward IV at the battle of…
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Do you feel tired and often need a snooze? Perhaps your sleeping habits are out of sync with nature. Previously, people slept differently from the way we do now. The idea of eight hours sleep in one go was unheard of. In the Middle Ages, the night was divided into two parts: the first sleep…
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All the best Christmas feasts included a Greyt Pye. It could contain many different meats, so you can choose for yourself which you include. Serves 6-8 Ingredients Line a 9in/23cm pie dish with just over half the pastry and brush the inside with the egg white. Parboil the meat gently in salted water for 10-15…
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Lovage (Levisticum officinale), a tall, leafy perennial with a strong scent, was popular in mediaeval times, used for medicinal purposes, in cooking and famously, in love potions because of its name, from Middle English ‘love-ache’, where ‘ache’ meant parsley. Its use dates back to the 12th century. Medicinal Uses- Medieval people used all the parts…
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Sky news reports: A medieval church tower has been suspended 45ft (14 metres) above the ground as part of a building project in the City of London. The tower of the 700-year-old All Hallows Staining Church was balanced on stilts in what developers called a “never seen before feat of engineering”. It was raised above…
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Have you ever thought about what happened to Richard’s clothes and jewellery? It would be amazing to find out about the fate of his belongings and it was during my research about this topic that I came across a very intriguing joust that took place from the 28th to the 30th August 1839 in the…
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York is a city full of history, wherever you look and Lendal Cellars is one such place. If you have ever visited the Cellars, you’re entering right into York’s medieval undercroft. It has wonderful vaulted brick ceilings and chunky stone blocks that are all that remains of the Austin Friary that was once on the…
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by Ian Wilson Why do the Wars of the Roses feel like endless vendettas? At first glance, because the language of honour hadn’t changed: nobles still cried, “My blood has been offended,” or “My lineage must be avenged.” That patina of chivalry, though, concealed something very different. The talk set out to understand why so…
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