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Medieval Week

Peasants in the Middle Ages at a cattle market. Cows appear to have been difficult to manage in the medieval period, and caused several deaths. (Photo by INTERFOTO /Alamy)

5 strange causes of death in the medieval period

Woodcut of a woman who may be stoking a furnace or baking bread, printed in the 15th century. (SSPL/Getty Images)

What was life like for a medieval housewife?

c1450: A French 15th-century covered market showing silversmiths, cobblers and drapers selling their wares. Original artist: Bibliotheque de la Ville de Rouen. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Middle Ages

Agincourt was one of the major battles of the Hundred Years' War.

Agincourt: medieval England’s finest hour?

Illustration by Glen McBeth

Did castle defenders pour boiling oil on their assailants during a medieval siege?

Portrait of Richard III, dated 15th century. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Treachery at Bosworth: what really brought down Richard III

Detail from the Bayeux tapestry, which depicts the Norman conquest of England in 1066. (DeAgostini/Getty Images)

10 medieval dates you need to know

A miniature from the Codex Justinianus

10 dangers of the medieval period

A compilation of compass drawn circles, and variants found in many of the churches

Medieval graffiti: the lost voices of England’s churches in the Middle Ages

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3 curious medieval ghost stories

An illustration from an 11th-century manuscript depicting a king and his minister doing justice, c1050. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Medieval English law in the time of Magna Carta

c1754: Siege of a town led by Godefroy de Bouillon (c1060-1100) 1st Crusade (1095-1099), showing Saracens firing arrows at Crusaders as they attempt to scale the walls. From manuscript of Roman de Godefroy de Bouillon. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

5 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Crusades

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Kidding/not kidding: a medieval sense of humour

The Franciscans treating victims of the plague, miniature from La Franceschina, c1474, codex by Jacopo Oddi. Perugia, Biblioteca Capitolare (Library). (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

The hospital experience in medieval England

Aerial view on Westminster Abbey at night. (Photo by Pawel Libera/LightRocket via Getty Images)

7 of England’s best medieval buildings