Hanging, Drawing and Quartering: the Anatomy of an Execution
I found this an incredibly hard post to write - not just because of its length but also the amount of research into the act of execution....
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The Prisons of Edward II’s London, Part Two – South of the River, Outside of the City
The King’s Bench Prison This prison took its name from the King’s Bench Court in which cases of misdemeanors (as opposed to more serious...
The Prisons of Edward II's London, Part One (The West)
Prisons - or gaols - in Medieval England operated very differently than they do today: in fact today’s prisons – even the toughest ones -...
The Prisons of Edward II’s London – Part Three – Central and East
And now, for the final post on London prisons: The Tower The Tower of London is probably one of the best known landmarks of the city –...
Feast and Fast
These days many of us are lucky enough to have the option of eating what we want, when we want. In the Middle Ages, it was very...
Freshwater Fishes for Dishes
The fish that people ate in the Middle Ages could come from the sea, estuaries, rivers and ponds. In this post I want to just focus on...
Punishment of the Pillory
It is very easy to mix up pillories and stocks. Both involved public humiliation by being immobilised in a wooden contraption and being...
Gruesome Deeds Grimly Done: the London Medieval Murder Map
The London Medieval Murder Map has been compiled by the Violence Research Centre of Cambridge University. The map pinpoints the locations...
Medieval Easter
After the strictures and fasting of Lent, the arrival of Easter Sunday must have been an occasion to be looked forward to. At last,...
Lent in the 14th century
Lent then, like now, is a period of approximately 40 days, starting on Ash Wednesday and ending at Easter. (I shall talk in the past...
Lady Despenser's Scribery
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