Roland blows his horn for help and tries to break his sword on a rock (Chartres Cathedral) As soon as the Moors had conquered Spain in 711 AD, the descendants of the Visigoths and the Romans [...]
Otto I (on a seal) attacked medieval Poland The Slavs live in Poland During the Early Middle Ages, a lot of small princes and dukes ruled the place where Poland is now. None [...]
A person with a bubo from bubonic plague on their leg What was the bubonic plague? Bubonic plague (along with smallpox) was one of the most feared diseases of the ancient [...]
Medieval France: The castle at Dourdan, built by Philip Augustus Philip Augustus, King of France Louis VII's son, Philip Auguste, was much more ambitious and smarter than his father. Philip [...]
Outer walls of Caen castle, Normandy, France The Vikings settle in northern France Around 1000 AD, some of the Vikings who had been raiding France got permission from the French king to settle down and live [...]
Matilda of Flanders had this church built: Nave of Abbaye aux Dames (Caen, 1050 AD) Who was Matilda of Flanders? About 1050 AD, William the Conqueror married Matilda of Flanders. They were both [...]
Prince John on a coin Why did people hate King John? When Richard the Lionhearted died of gangrene in 1199 AD (when he was 42), his younger brother John became king. The [...]
Medieval Italy: Matilda of Canossa (ca. 1100 AD) Matilda of Canossa By about 900 AD, the Holy Roman Emperors started to lose power over Northern Italy. The Counts of Canossa controlled most of Northern [...]
Early medieval Italy: Lombard shield boss (to make spears slide off it) (Metropolitan Museum, New York) Northern Italy and France In 774 AD, Charlemagne conquered northern Italy from the Lombards. Soon after that [...]
Medieval Hungary: Stephen, the first Christian King of Hungary ca. 1000 AD The Magyars invade Hungary When the invading Magyars conquered land in Eastern Europe from the Slavs about 900 AD, and started the [...]
