September 16, 1380: on this day, King Charles V of France died after 16 years of reign. Despite his name being somehow overshadowed by the more famous Holy Roman Emperor of the same name, Charles V…
Un piccolo passo per un uomo, un grande balzo per l'umanità. Dopo aver sognato un tale traguardo per millenni, l'umanità ha mosso i primi passi sulla superficie lunare esattamente 50 anni fa, il 20 luglio…
July 15, 1381: the English priest John Ball is hanged, drawn, and quartered because of his preachings. John Ball was born in Hertfordshire around 1338. He later moved to Kent and Essex because of the Black Death,…
Did you know that even cheeses have birthdays? Well, at least that is the case for Roquefort, the famous French cheese that is officially turning 608 years old today! On June 4, 1411, King Charles…
May 2, 1519: on this day, exactly 500 years ago, Leonardo da Vinci died at 67 in Château du Clos Lucé, a castle in the city of Amboise, France. As one of the most popular and…
Here in the West, we are often used to see the Middle Ages almost exclusively from a Euro-centric point of view, overlooking the great historical importance of the East, its dynasties, and its conquerors. This obviously…
April 2 is, according to several reconstructions, to be counted as the birthday of Charlemagne: the great King of the Franks and Lombards, and later Holy Roman Emperor, who managed to unite much of western…
Exactly 921 years ago, on October 21, 1097, the first Siege of Antioch began. The conflict, which lasted a total of 8 months, marked the arrival of the First Crusade in the Holy Land: the city of…