A Viking ship like the ones that sailed on the First Crusade Before the First Crusade Throughout the 1000s AD, Viking mercenary soldiers, some coming down the Volga river through Russia, and others sailing around [...]
A Viking ship. Viking trade took the Vikings all over the world. Who were the Vikings? The Vikings were Indo-European people from Scandinavia (modern Denmark, Norway and Sweden). Around the 400s AD the Vikings started to [...]
Early Slavic history: Where did the Slavs come from? A Slavic furnace from Novae, in Bulgaria (300s AD) - maybe a pottery kiln? The Slavs were Indo-Europeans The Slavs, who [...]
Basil starts the Armenian Dynasty In 867 AD, Basil killed Bardas and took over as Roman Emperor. That started the Armenian Dynasty. People call it that because of Basil's Armenian ancestors. (Sometimes people call it the Macedonian [...]
Jesus on the Cross, by Fra Angelico When the Roman soldiers nailed Jesus to the cross, the nails made holes in His hands and feet. Medieval people called these holes the [...]
Visigothic horseshoe arch (San Juan Banos) Because Spain was in the Roman Empire, in the 300s AD Spanish art looked a lot like other Roman art. It's not exactly the same - each province [...]
Russian Icon of Saint Nicolas, 13th - early 14th century, tempera on wood. Our knowledge of Russian art begins with the Scythians and other Central Asian art. But what most people think of [...]
Perugino's selfie Perugino means "a man from Perugia," and that's where Perugino grew up, in Perugia in northern Italy. It was just at the end of the Middle Ages. Perugino was about [...]
A Late Antique ivory carving Roman art, German art, and Islamic art mixed together in Europe in the Early Middle Ages to create a new form, which we call medieval art. Art historians divide medieval [...]
Mary Magdalene and Jesus by Fra Angelico (Louvre Museum) Who was Fra Angelico? Fra Angelico was born about 1395 AD in a small town in northern Italy. Like his older brother, he learned [...]
