Egyptians were the first to recognize gout as a disease in 2640 BC. Hippocrates recognized its debilitating nature by the fifth century BC, calling it the “unwalkable disease.” He often used aphorisms, which still ring true to this day, to describe it. He referred to gout as the “arthritis of the rich” or the king’s …
The Codex Gigas, also known as the Devil’s Bible, is a medieval manuscript infamous for its large size and inclusion of a full-page illustration of the devil. But what is this document, and what is its history? And why has it been called the Devil’s Bible? Keep reading as we unravel the mystery of this …
Pear of Anguish was a torture device commonly believed to extract confessions from criminals during the medieval era. It was inserted into the victim’s mouth and then expanded, causing immense pain. Many believe the brutal torture device was used for centuries and caused immense suffering to its victims. Historians, on the other hand, don’t share …
Tarring and feathering is a brutal form of punishment used in the past to discipline people who had done something wrong. This practice has a strange and dark history, and it’s still unclear where it originated. Let’s explore the origins of tarring and feathering and why this punishment was doled out. What Was Tarring And …
The Strange History Behind Tarring and Feathering Read More »
We define different societies by the diverse ways they structure economic life and arrange daily life around those same economic activities. For example, in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, life depended on agriculture along the River Nile in Egypt and the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers in Mesopotamia. Accordingly, they established their villages, farms, and cities throughout …
The Middle Ages must be the most misunderstood period of human history. Often, people view it as a period during which people lived in poverty and society largely stood still, waiting for the Renaissance to come and pull them out of squalor. This wasn’t the case. There were distinct periods in medieval Europe. First came …
What Was a Day in the Life of a Medieval Peasant Like? Read More »
Ivan the Terrible was the infamous sixteenth-century ruler of the Duchy of Muscovy. He paradoxically was both an unhinged tyrant and the man who founded the Russian state. Ivan succeeded his father as grand ruler of the Duchy of Muscovy or Moscow when he was just three years old in 1533. Over the course of …
Ivan The Terrible’s Many Wives Suffered Horrific Fates Read More »
When one thinks of the Middle Ages, they are often confronted by a dour landscape of peasant drudgery punctuated by the occasional castle or small town. In many instances, knights or lords inhabited these castles and acted in an autocratic manner outside the boundaries of what we would view as traditional law and order today. …
The medieval world was full of tales of supernatural and magical occurrences. Many of these stories were later collected by antiquarians in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, individuals like the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, each of which collected and recorded these centuries-old folklore tales before their memory was forgotten entirely. England has its …
During the medieval period through the Tudor era, executions were common in England. Kings like Henry VIII executed thousands of his subjects, including two wives. Queens like Mary I (who earned the nickname Bloody Mary) burned protestant heretics at the stake. Even royalty wasn’t safe from a swift and brutal death. For example, Charles I …
Jack Ketch: One of History’s Bloodiest Executioners Read More »
