Medieval

'The Last Supper', 1803. A copy of the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the 1490s. Some think the superstition about Friday 13th being unlucky is related to the Last Supper, when 13 people were present at the meal before Jesus's crucifixion on Good Friday. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Q&A Why is Friday 13th considered unlucky?

Immigrant children are examined by a city health officer upon arrival at the battery from Ellis Island during a Typhus scare, c1911. (Image by Bettmann/Getty Images)

A short history of quarantine

c1955: A child pulls toilet paper from a roll. But what did humans do before toilet paper was invented? (Photo by Mac Gramlich/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

General ancient history

When was toilet paper invented and what did people use before?

Josephine Baker with her adopted children. She called them the ‘Rainbow Tribe’. (Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

Memorable mothers: history’s most remarkable mums

Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179). (Photo by ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Doctors, playwrights and feminists: meet 6 trailblazing medieval women

Wartime evacuees wash their hands

“The very sight of her hands did almost turn my stomach”: a brief history of hand-washing

100 women who changed the world

Women’s history month: 11 podcasts to listen to

A portrait of Edward IV, the first Yorkist king of England. From the National Portrait Gallery. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Edward IV: champion of the Wars of the Roses

Did medieval people take baths? This 15th-century illustration would suggest so – and shows a man climbing out of a tub. Medieval doctors prescribed bathing as a cure for conditions ranging from bladder stones to melancholy. (Photo by Bridgeman)

The (not so) stinky Middle Ages: why medieval people were cleaner than we think

St David painting in stained glass window, Ceredigion, UK. Exact date unknown. (Photo by David Angel/Alamy Stock Photo)

16 things you (probably) didn’t know about St David’s Day traditions

c1960s photo showing a man places an engagement ring on a woman's finger.

A brief history of proposing marriage

Miniature showing dissection of human cadaver by physicians. (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

Ask the medieval doctor: 6 ailments and their treatments

Pancake day celebrations

The history of Shrove Tuesday

Doctor treating a patient, from a 14th-century manuscript. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Elma Brenner on medieval wellbeing: “People in the Middle Ages were absolutely focused on staying healthy”

Doctor treating a patient, from a 14th-century manuscript. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Medieval medicine