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Definition
Alphabet
The history of the alphabet started in ancient Egypt. By 2700 BCE Egyptian writing had a set of some 22 hieroglyphs to represent syllables that begin with a single consonant of their language, plus a vowel (or no vowel) to be supplied by...
Article
The Early Three Kingdoms Period
The Early Three Kingdoms Period in ancient China, from 184 CE to 190 CE for the purposes of this article, was one of the most turbulent in China's history. With an ailing Han government unable to control its empire, brutal localised wars...
Article
Leisure in an English Medieval Castle
Thanks to their favoured position in life and the labour of the peasants on their estates, nobles in an English medieval castle had plenty of leisure hours which could be frittered away by eating, drinking, dancing, playing games like chess...
Image
Guinevere and Lancelot
Illustration from the book Tales of the Round Table (1908 CE), based on the tales in the Book of Romance (1902 CE).
Image
Melusine's Secret Discovered
Melusine's secret discovered, illustration from folio 19 of the illuminated manuscript Français 24383 of The Romance of Melusine by Jean d'Arras, 15th century.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.
Video
What Latin Sounded Like - and how we know
Classical Latin went extinct, yet we still know how to pronounce it. Proof! Take a trip with me back to Catholic school, then back even further to old Rome. We'll see what Latin pronunciation did - and did NOT - sound like in the mouths...
Definition
Grail Legend
The Grail Legend (also known as the Grail Quest, Quest for the Holy Grail) developed in Europe c. 1050-1485 CE. It most likely originated in Ireland as folklore before appearing in written form sometime before 1056 CE in The Prophetic Ecstasy...
Definition
Medieval Literature
Medieval literature is defined broadly as any work written in Latin or the vernacular between c. 476-1500, including philosophy, religious treatises, legal texts, as well as works of the imagination. More narrowly, however, the term applies...
Definition
Chretien de Troyes
Chretien de Troyes (l. c. 1130-1190 CE) was the greatest romantic poet of his era, regarded today as the Father of Arthurian Romance (along with Geoffrey of Monmouth) and also Father of the Novel owing to his narrative form. He was most likely...
Definition
Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
In the 2nd century CE, as Christianity was in the process of becoming an independent religion, a body of literature emerged that scholars classify as apocrypha and pseudepigrapha. Apocrypha (Greek: apokryptein, "to hide away") are those books...