Category Archives: Uncategorized

Gerbert as Pope Sylvester, 999-1003

Gerbert’s first royal pupil, Otto II, was married to a Greek princess and fully in control of his kingdoms by age 18. He continued his father’s project of campaigns against the Slavs; the Poles and Bohemians were converting to Christianity—and … Continue reading

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Baghdad: the House of Wisdom

Baghdad’s Round City featured a large building that was called, at first, The Bookstore. It was modeled after the Persian Empire’s library in Ctesiphon, but its chief purpose was to transfer civilization into the Arabic script of the recently-literate nomads. … Continue reading

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The York guilds sign up to produce plays

The full Corpus Christi production in York, England had a whopping 48 pageant-wagons with plays. There were records kept so that we know which organizations put on which plays, and when they petitioned to drop out, swap, or join, and … Continue reading

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Book includes medieval language samples!

This exciting student work/textbook explains how English changed through the medieval period. It even has a section with simple Anglo-Saxon man-on-the-street interviews so you can follow along and hear it spoken. A whole chapter each on the Danish migration and … Continue reading

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Sing the Brain Song!

Ellen’s Basement Workshop song to learn the parts of the brain!   “The Brain Song” (Digital Download)  

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Thaw, feed, serve: very old worms come back to life!

Worms are amazing creatures! These worms in Siberia were frozen thousands of years ago. In 2018, scientists took over 300 specimens and began carefully thawing them. Two of them came back to life! They began moving and looking for something … Continue reading

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Christian Egypt under Mamluk rule, 1382-1517

In earlier entries, you read about how the Mamluks, slaves raised to fight, became a ruling class with a complete bureaucracy as well as attempts to normalize into a hereditary monarchy. The Kipchak Turk Mamluks had their “Mafia” structure in … Continue reading

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Samarkand and the Math Emperor, 1405

Timur’s grandson Mohammed, son of Shah Rukh, was a huge nerd. It’s hard to be born into a notorious warlord’s family when you really just want to sit up at night in an observatory measuring the stars, or calculate Pi … Continue reading

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The Battle on the Ice: 1242

The Mongols had not touched the city-state of Novgorod, as it was just out of range to north and west. In this period, the region is known as the Novgorod Republic. Novgorod was ruled by a Prince who was appointed or … Continue reading

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Quia Maior and the Fifth Crusade, 1213-1215

The Fifth Crusade left a permanent mark on Roman Christendom, laying the foundation for the Protestant Reformation but even so, altering the way we look at serving in the church, even now. It was Pope Innocent III’s second attempt to … Continue reading

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