Heloise and Abelard Who was Heloise? The story of Heloise (HELL-oh-ees) and her husband Peter Abelard is one of the saddest stories of Western history. Heloise was born about 1100 [...]
Young tonsured monks at school Tonsure means to cut off someone's hair. Monks and nuns in the Middle Ages generally showed that they were monks by cutting their hair short (when most [...]
Egyptian caves where early monks and nuns lived Who was Benedict? In the 500s AD, Benedict was the founder of a new Christian movement toward monasticism: living as monks or nuns. What are [...]
Clerks in the Manessa Codex threatening students with sticks (1300 AD) - Medieval schools Who went to school? In medieval Europe, even fewer kids went to school than in the Roman Empire. [...]
Leo the Isaurian (ca. 720 AD, Louvre museum, Paris) Anastasius II When Justinian II's assassin Philippicus turned out to be a worthless party animal, other Roman officials killed him. In 713 [...]
Cloister at Moissac (ca. 1100 AD, southern France) Where do cloisters come from? Cloisters were a medieval kind of building that developed out of Greek and then Roman peristyles. What is [...]
