An Overview of Life in Medieval Western Europe

    This post mainly covers the period from 1100 CE to 1400 CE, when the Italian Renaissance escapes containment.  Strangely, there is not a lot of material out there from historians or living history organizations...  A lot of these links are from the Met and other art history sources.

General information
    Cambrian Chronicles. "The Prince of Wales: What Everybody Gets Wrong." YouTube. Posted October 17, 2022.
    HistoryExtra. "Why medieval peasants were REVOLTING | What really caused the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381." YouTube. Posted March 10, 2025.
    History Hit. "What Was Everyday Life Like In Medieval Britain?" YouTube. Posted July 6, 2022.
    Norris, Michael. "Feudalism and Knights in Medieval Europe." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001.

Architecture and engineering
    CBS Sunday Morning. "Building a medieval castle from scratch." YouTube. Posted May 19, 2024.
    Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters. "Stained Glass in Medieval Europe." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001.
    Gresham College. "House, Shop and Wardrobe in London's Merchant Community - Professor Simon Thurley CBE." YouTube. Posted December 8, 2017.
    Historyextra. "What Was Life REALLY like in a Medieval Castle? | The Truth About Castle Living." YouTube. Posted December 4, 2024.
    Smarthistory. "Gothic architecture explained." YouTube. Posted August 8, 2022.
    The Great Courses. "Life in a Medieval Palace." YouTube. Posted May 9, 2022.

Clothing and fashion
    CrowsEyeProductions. "Getting dressed in the 14th century." YouTube. Posted May 11, 2018.
    CrowsEyeProductions. "Getting Dressed in the 14th Century - Ploughman." YouTube. Posted June 8, 2018.
    Historic Royal Palaces. "Getting Dressed as a Medieval Queen." YouTube. Posted September 10, 2025.
    Hull Museums. "Medieval Crafts - Wool Preparation (combing, carding and spinning)." YouTube. Posted August 3, 2021.
    The British Museum. "Pearls, sapphires, diamonds & toadstones I Curator's Corner S3 Ep8 #CuratorsCorner." YouTube. Posted March 18, 2018.

Economy and trade
    Hull Museums. "Saints and Travellers: Medieval Pilgrim Badges." YouTube. Posted May 22, 2017.
    Khan Academy. "Serfs and manorialism | World History | Khan Academy." YouTube. Posted May 10, 2017.
    Marchant, Katrina. "Domesday Book: William I's Great Survey." YouTube. Posted August 23, 2024.
    OER Project. "How the Wool Trade Fit into Medieval Europe's Economy | World History Project." YouTube. Posted June 1, 2020.
    Southampton on Video. "Southampton's Medieval Wool House." YouTube. Posted December 10, 2015.
    The Great Courses. "Medieval Trade Networks | The History of Europe and Africa." YouTube. Posted December 26, 2022.

Food and drink
    Hicks, Kevin. "How do you feed a medieval army? | Medieval logistics." YouTube. Posted May 18, 2022.
    Historic Royal Palaces. "A Medieval Recipe from 1390 Cooked in a Flowerpot | Historic Cookery at Kew Palace." YouTube. Posted April 16, 2025.
    History Hit. "How Much Booze Did Medieval People Really Drink?" YouTube. Posted December 19, 2022.
    Wakefield Museums And Castles. "Medieval Herbs - Apples." YouTube. Posted July 16, 2020.
    Wakefield Museums And Castles. "Medieval Herbs - Tudor Ale." YouTube. Posted July 16, 2020.

Games and entertainment
    History Hit. "What Was Sport Really Like in the Middle Ages?" YouTube. Posted April 3, 2023.
    Marchant, Katrina. "Illegal Games in Medieval and Early Modern England." YouTube. Posted June 20, 2025.
    The Courtly Arts Performers of Victoria. "Medieval dance and song: Stella Splendens." YouTube. Posted January 28, 2024.
    The Great Courses. "Medieval Games we Still Play | The Medieval Legacy." YouTube. Posted October 10, 2022.

Hygiene and medicine
    Barnet, Peter. "Medieval Aquamanilia." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.
    Goldiner, Sigrid. "Medicine in the Middle Ages." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012.
    HistoryExtra. "How DANGEROUS was childbirth in medieval times? | Medieval historian on family in the middle ages." YouTube. Posted March 3, 2025.
    History Hit. "Did People In The Medieval Period Brush Their Teeth?" YouTube. Posted June 21, 2024.
    History Hit. "What Was Battlefield Surgery Like In The Medieval Period?" YouTube. Posted July 22, 2024.
    The Great Courses. "Europe's Death Ships | After the Plague." YouTube. Posted April 25, 2022.
    Wakefield Museums And Castles. "Medieval Gardening - Remedies." YouTube. Posted October 28, 2020.

Literature and education
    Dean, James M. "Anticlerical Poems and Documents: Introduction." In Medieval English Political Writings. Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 1996.
    Getty Museum. "Making Manuscripts." YouTube. Posted June 17, 2014.
    Historyextra. "Did the Catholic church hinder astronomy?" YouTube. Posted November 30, 2023.
    Knight, Stephen. "Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales: General Introduction." In Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales. Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 1997.
    Openbare Bibliotheek Brugge. "Medieval Books of Hours in the Public Library of Bruges." YouTube. Posted May 31, 2013.
    The British Museum. "A medieval casket that breaks the fourth wall | Gothic Ivories 2 | Curator's Corner S7 Ep6." YouTube. Posted June 30, 2022.

Painting and sculpture
    Boehm, Barbara Drake, and Melanie Holcomb. "Jews and the Arts in Medieval Europe." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010.
    Getty Museum. "The Alchemy of Color and Chemical Change in Medieval Manuscripts." YouTube. Posted October 10, 2016.
    Guérin, Sarah M. "Ivory Carving in the Gothic Era, Thirteenth–Fifteenth Centuries." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010.
    Holcomb, Melanie. "Drawing in the Middle Ages." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.
    Holcomb, Melanie. "Medieval European Sculpture for Buildings." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001.
    The British Museum. "Treasures of Heaven: Medieval Goldsmiths." YouTube. Posted August 19, 2011.

Religion and folklore
    Boehm, Barbara Drake. "Relics and Reliquaries in Medieval Christianity.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011.
    Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters. "The Cult of the Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001.
    HistoryExtra. "Late-medieval religion | A brief history by Oxford professor Hannah Skoda." YouTube. Posted February 25, 2025.
    History Hit. "How Much Power Did the Catholic Church Have in the Middle Ages?" YouTube. Posted September 22, 2023.
    Marchant, Katrina. "The Roots of Reformation: John Wycliffe." YouTube. Posted June 24, 2022.
    Oxford University Department for Continuing Education. "Anniversaries, feasts and commemoration in the Middle Ages." YouTube. Posted January 6, 2014.
    Sorabella, Jean. "Monasticism in Western Medieval Europe." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001.
    The British Museum. "The Blood Drinking Cult of Thomas Becket | Curator's Corner S6 Ep6 #CuratorsCorner." YouTube. Posted August 5, 2021.

Travel and transportation
    Hicks, Kevin. "Horses on Campaign in Medieval Times | Logistics & Transport." YouTube. Posted January 20, 2023.
    Sorabella, Jean. "Pilgrimage in Medieval Europe." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011.

Warfare and crime
    Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters. "The Crusades (1095–1291)." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014.
    HistoryExtra. "How did medieval criminals seek SANCTUARY? | Historian explains law and order in the Middle Age." YouTube. Posted April 5, 2025.
    Norris, Michael. "Arms and Armor in Medieval Europe." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001.
    Royal Armouries. "How A Man Shall Be Armed: 13th Century." YouTube. Posted February 20, 2017.
    Royal Armouries. "How A Man Shall Be Armed: 14th Century." YouTube. Posted February 20, 2017.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

D&D Thinkpiece: Holy Symbols

Image
    I've been pondering the nature of holy symbols in Dungeons & Dragons and similar fantasy tabletop RPGs.  They're instantly recognizable, with strong lines and bright colors, and can be hugely fun to sprinkle throughout a dungeon as clues or emblazon on a character's shield to show their allegiance.  Yet, there seems to be a distinct lack of real-world analogs for D&D-style holy symbols.  How did that happen?      Although D&D was created by a deeply Christian man, E. Gary Gygax seems to have neglected the real-world use of holy symbols in his own religion, much less outside of Christianity.  Let's look at how the cross is used as a Christian symbol.     The cross or crucifix is, essentially, the ancient Roman equivalent of the gallows.  As the instrument of Jesus' suffering* and death*, it is the quintessential Christian symbol.  It can appear with or without Jesus (or other hanged martyrs), and w...
Read more

1910s Drafting, Tailoring, and Hatmaking

    There are a lot of resources out there for period patterns from the era(s) in question, at least from the 1800s onward, so I thought I'd add yet another series of posts to my blog.  Publication of sewing manuals seems to drop off after the 1910s, picking up again in the 1940s, but I will try to do as many decades as I can! General information      Bryner, Edna. Dressmaking and Millinery . Cleveland, OH: Survey Committee of the Cleveland Foundation, 1916.     Foster, Olivia Hyde. Sewing for Little Girls . New York, NY: Duffield & Company, 1911.      Ginsburg, Marcus O. Chart of Bias Cutting . New York, NY: The Public Press, 1919.     Goodwin, Emma E. Goodwin's Course in Sewing: Practical Instruction in Needlework for Use in Schools and at Home . New York, NY: Frank D. Beattys & Company, 1910.      Van Rensselaer, Martha, et al. A Manual of Home-Making . New York, NY: The MacMillan ...
Read more

A Young Person's Introduction to 18th-Century Western Fashion

     This is an unexpurgated version of a Tumblr post which had to be cut for length.  It was intended to be for those just getting into the subject, or those looking for more on a specific topic.  Unfortunately, it really doesn't treat fashion outside of Britain, France, and their colonies, but for Anglophone readers, I think it's a good starting resource! General information     Cox, Abby. " I Wore 18th-Century Clothing *Every Day for 5 YEARS & This Is What I Learned (Corsets Aren't Bad!) ." YouTube . May 10, 2020.     Dyer, Serena. " How much did 18th-century women know about their clothes? | Fast Fashion v Georgian Dress ." YouTube . July 30, 2020.      Rudolph, Nicole. " 18th century Fashion 101 : how media messes up ." YouTube . May 20, 2023.     Viljanmaa, Maria. " 1780s dressing the different social classes, english fashion ." YouTube . March 30, 2023.      McKnight, Cheyney. ...
Read more