Medieval Warfare Magazine

Editor-in-chief: Jasper Oorthuys Editor: Alice Isabella Sullivan Image research: Lauren van Zoonen Proofreader: Naomi Munts Design & media: Christy Beall Design © 2022 Karwansaray Publishers Artwork advisers: Robert W. Jones (Advanced Studies in Engl

When King Cnut sailed to Denmark in 1019, did he bring a copy of Beowulf with him? That is the theory put forward in a new article on why the famous Old English poem was written in the early years of the eleventh century. Beowulf is only found in one

The Middle Ages are full of mystery! This issue brings attention to some of the most strange and captivating texts, images, and objects that have fascinated medievalists and broader audiences for generations. One of the theme articles, authored by a

The Basilica of Saint-Denis is dedicated to Saint Dionysius (Denis in French), first bishop of Lutetia Parisiorum (the Latin name of the Roman city where Paris later developed). He was martyred in the third century on the hill of Montmartre, the Mons

The problem is that the things that supposedly made heraldry so useful – that it was a system of individual symbols, utilizing bold designs visible at a distance – actually worked against its effectiveness. It might be conceivable that a knight would

Prior to AD 1000, Norway was religiously divided between the Old Norse religion and Christianity, with the rapid spread of the latter from AD 995 after Olaf Tryggvason became ruler of Norway. As he marched across Norway to secure his rule, the Christ

Perhaps the most significant discovery of the decade in the field of medieval English literature was made by Euan Roger and Sebastian Sobecki in 2022. Working in the National Archives in England, the two discovered two court records that seemed to cl

If you Google “Voynich Manuscript,” you will find yourself in a corner of the internet full of alien abductions, seances, conspiracy theories, and secrets. You will stumble into heated debates between fellow obsessives who have devoted their lives to

The medieval and early-modern periods provided other outlets for devotion to Christ's death. Pilgrims travelled to the holy land to pray at Christ's tomb at the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. But like the Shroud of Turin, it too was copie

The First Crusade in 1099 had been a brilliant success, culminating as it had with the capture of Jerusalem. By 1124, the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the County of Edessa had captured many important c

Gospel accounts of the Passion identify the linens used to prepare Christ's crucified body for burial, as well as their disposition when left behind after the Resurrection. But nowhere do they definitively describe the features of the so-called Shrou

There are few primary and secondary sources that mention in great detail the Assassins. The chroniclers Ibn AlAthir, Ibn Al-Qalanisi, Usama ibn Munqidh, William of Tyre, and Arnold of Lübeck, along with the travellers Benjamin of Tudela and Ibn Jubay

The standard story is that they are made of walrus ivory sent from Greenland to the archbishop of Trondheim in Norway as part of the Christian Greenlanders' tithe. The chessmen were carved in twelfth-century Trondheim, then sent by merchant ship to D

Whereas Italy was the epicentre of technological and cultural developments during the late medieval and early modern periods, Central Europe also experienced innovations. The spread of the paper mill north of the Alps, and the proliferation of script

It is from her father that she reportedly gained her values of open-mindedness and tolerance. Upon her father's death, Sitt's half-brother al-Mansur, I later known by the regnal name al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, became caliph. Sitt supported her cousin to

On 11 July 1346, Edward set sail from Portsmouth with a huge fleet carrying an army of 15,000 men. With the English army were Edward's sixteen-year-old son, Edward (later called the O Black Prince), many Anglo-Welsh soldiers, and allied knights and m

In the Middle Ages, region and status determined which bread you ate. In the Netherlands, bread was I mainly made from rye and wheat. Rye, along with barley and buckwheat, were the grains of the people. They made compact breads because there is littl

There is not much information about the seasonings and fillings of breads in the Middle Ages. That is also why this recipe is so valuable. It shows that nuts, herbs, spices, fats, and sweeteners were added – in this case, all together in one loaf! We

The new sultan, Jalal al-Din Mangburni, withdrew south into Khorasan with the Mongols in hot pursuit. He succeeded in raising a new army in Afghanistan. This marked the beginning of a decade-long military campaign in which he fought off the Mongols o

An Artful Relic: The Shroud of Turin in Baroque Italy By Andrew R. Casper Penn State University Press, 2021 ISBN: 978-0271090399 The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam By Bernard Lewis Basic Books, 2003 ISBN: 978-1842124512 The Routledge History of M