Medieval Architecture, Knightly Life, and Medieval Society

This site aims to look at Medieval history through means of selected topics regarding the Medieval Society and its customs. We hope that, without making a radical departure from a more traditional way of analysing the history of the Middle Ages, we introduced some improvement in selection and presentation of material.

We looked at the feudal state and the self-centered town, the diversity of local laws and customs. In the process, it was difficult to overestimate the importance of the Papacy and the medieval clergy as unifying forces in medieval civilization. Consequently several topics are devoted to the Medieval Church, Medieval Monasticism, and the Monastic Military Orders.

So far, we are still at the beginning. We looked first at the Medieval history in relation with some western European lands whose institutions and culture had the greatest influence upon the history of the continent. We are trying to give the required attention to the economic and social conditions, and to the many details of military and political history.

History also teaches us that in the art of the past there are precious models and inspirations, whose loss would be irreparable. Thus, we attempt to discuss the Medieval art as well.

Even if the tactics of Hastings and Crécy are of little use to the modern military specialist, we paid attention to the ways of making war in Middle Ages, as many battles in Medieval history contributed to the shaping of kingdoms in forms close to today's modern countries.

We are reasoning and emotional beings, and it is unfair to our past ancestors to merely chronicle events without some indication of the ideas and ideals behind them as well as of the personalities that produced them. We try to focus more on these.

True it is that a textbook or general history is chiefly intended to tell what we do know. But the old lesson of Socrates teaches us that that there are many things which we do not know and many more which we only half know.

Our site about Medieval history is striving to complete the other half.