Watch This Magical Drone Footage of Castles Across Europe
Sorry, I still have a Game of Thrones hangover, so when I watch this beautiful drone footage that gives sweeping views of castles across Europe, I see the map of Westeros in the opening credits come alive. Some of these castles are in ruins, some are near rivers, some are on islets, some are embedded on the mountain…
Meet the People Building a Medieval Castle Without Using Any New Technology
Two hours outside of Paris stands Guédelon, a castle that looks like it’s from the medieval period, but is actually being constructed right now. What’s more, the castle isn’t being built with new technology but instead with medieval techniques and materials. That means every stone, every tile, every single part of the…
Sorry But Medieval Armies Probably Didn't Use Fire Arrows
Fire arrows are in everything from Gladiator to Braveheart to Game of Thrones. The good guys stretch their bows in unison and rain flaming death en masse onto the opposing army, looking like total badasses the whole time. But like so many things on this terrible planet, fire arrows are too good to be true and almost…
What Mars Would Look Like Mapped by Medieval Cartographers
What can one expect to find out on the dusty plains of Mars? This new map shows you through the eyes of a medieval cartographer.
Medieval Times Gets Some Futuristic Upgrades With Lego's New Nexo Knights
Unusual mashups have resulted in some remarkably popular toy lines over the past few decades; think cars + robots, ninjas + turtles, and cabbage + dolls. The latest comes from Lego, whose new Nexo Knights line combines all the fun of medieval weapons and castles, with futuristic technologies.
The Drink of the Viking Warlords Makes a Great Summer Cocktail
Long before humans had figured out beer, we learned that you can make a damn tasty crunk-juice by stewing rainwater in a beehive. Mead was the drink of ancient Greek philosophers, Asian hunter-gatherers, and Celtic berserkers. It’s also the secret behind some of the best summer cocktails.
Scientists are Brewing Medieval Potions to Fight Hospital Superbugs
Last month, a microbiology lab in Nottingham, England made international headlines when it unearthed a substance that kills methicillin-resistant staph, one of the deadliest superbugs of modern times. The most astounding part about the find? It was a 1,000-year-old Viking potion.
UV Light Reveals Ghostly Graffiti in Medieval Manuscript
The Black Book of Carmarthen, named for the color of its binding and believed location of origin (the Augustinian Priory of Saints John the Evangelist and Teulydog in Carmarthem), is the oldest surviving manuscript written in the Welsh language.
Medieval Crime Reports Are A Treasure Trove Of Details On Daily Life
If future generations want to know how we whiled away our daily hours, they'll need to look no further than our constant streams of tweets, pictures, and status updates. But what of the poor medieval villager who had no Instagram with which to document the badass tapestry he just wove?
Medieval Libraries Developed A Crude GPS System To Locate Books
It wasn't easy to find a specific book on library shelves in the Middle Ages. The spine title had not yet been invented, and the books weren't published in standard sizes. But readers didn't have to spend hours searching, thanks to an ingenious system that made use of concepts similar to modern GPS.
Instead Of A Batmobile, Medieval Knight Batman Rides A Giant Living Bat
We've seen one artist portray Batman as a medieval knight battling and endlessly grinning Joker dragon, but this illustration by Jason Kang focuses more on what the medieval Dark Knight's armor might look like—and his might steed, the Bat...well...Bat. He even has a Robin.
The Greatest Werewolf Art Of The Middle Ages And Renaissance
While they weren't always depicted as shirtless teen heartthrobs, creatures who turn from human into wolf (and vice versa) appear in tales dating back to antiquity. So throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, artists have had plenty of strange and creepy stories to inform their werewolf illustrations.
This is how medieval knights fought inside their clunky armors
My uncle used to own an old medieval Spanish armor. I remember looking at it and thinking how the hell knights could fight stuffed inside those heavy and clunky metal suits. This video shows how: Reconstructing medieval fight techniques using combat treatises of that time as a reference.
The Inspiration For Disney's Robin Hood Wasn't Actually Robin Hood
Andrew E. Larsen is an historian who specializes in Medieval England and blogs about pop culture and history at An Historian Goes to the Movies. In "Disney's Robin Hood: A Bit More Medieval Than You Might Think," Larsen explores the film's true inspiration, which wasn't Robin Hood but a different medieval tale.
Concept Art Writing Prompt: The Medieval Mech
The past and the future seem to collide in this week's writing prompt. Why is this giant mechanical creation outfitted like a medieval knight?
Medieval Manuscripts Depict A Terrifying Tale Of The Walking Dead
And you thought zombie comics were a recent idea? Over the centuries, medieval artists applied their talents to illustrate a mysterious tale of animated corpses who tormented the living.
These Medieval-Style Tolkien Illustrations Are Like Nothing We've Seen
At first glance, these may look like Russian Orthodox iconography from the Middle ages. But they are actually striking illustrations of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien by Ukrainian artist Sergei Iukhimov.
Medieval Kitchens Used a Specially Bred Dog to Turn Roasting Spits
Before the era of "set it and forget it" countertop rotisserie ovens, kitchen gadgets required a lot more manpower—and if not manpower, then dogpower. The turnspit, a breed of dog dating for medieval Britain, would run around and around on a wheel like a hamster in a cage, ensuring evenly roasted meat for hungry…
