A lot of History

Here you will find quite a few of my reflections on various topics related to medieval history, with a particular focus on the Wars of the Roses and other similar disputes, in any time, in any place, and in any universe.
You can also find the same articles in Italian under the category “Articoli in Italiano”

  • Heloise: A woman’s view of the Middle Ages. Love, body, and power beyond Abelard.

    When the name Heloise is spoken, collective memory almost automatically turns to another figure: Pierre Abélard. Their love story, overwhelming, scandalous, tragic, has, over time, become one of the founding myths of Western romantic imagination. Yet to stop there is to betray precisely what makes Heloise an exceptional figure. For Heloise is not merely the

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  • Elizabeth of York and the loyalty that bound her – mottos part II

    Objects, as we know, travel through time. And sometimes monuments or chronicles are not needed: a single line of ink, a signature, a motto slipped into the margin of a book is enough to bring back to the surface, after five centuries, a truth of identity. In the first part (here), we followed the most

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  • A Night as King: Christmas in the Middle Ages

    When we think of Christmas, we most often think of the tree, Santa Claus, lights, and huge family tables filled with laughter and arguments (yes, that happens too, let’s admit it peacefully!). But in the Middle Ages, how was Christmas experienced? First of all, Christmas festivities did not begin on December 8 as they do

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  • Sans Removyr: the hidden promise of Elizabeth of York

    Objects, as we know, travel through time. They retain something of us, something we chose to imprint so that our children, our grandchildren, and all those who come after us might understand who we truly were. Sometimes a single book, a line, a signature, a motto… is enough to cry out to the world, centuries

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  • Give me your pee and I’ll tell you who you are

    If today a doctor told you, “To understand what’s wrong with you, let me examine your urine… under the light of the Moon,” you would probably run for your life. In the Middle Ages, however, not only would you not have been scandalised… you would have considered the request perfectly normal.For centuries, in fact, the

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  • The vigil of souls and the night when the dead come home

    Every year on October 31st, for the past thirty-six years now (at least in this earthly life of mine), I’ve heard people criticize the day of Samhain, or Halloween as it’s now called, in the most absurd ways imaginable. Some call it an evil day, devoted to the devil; others dismiss it as nothing more

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  • The Naughty Side of History: Medieval Swear Words

    All my life I’ve heard people say: “What is this, the Middle Ages?” or “It feels like we’ve gone back to the Middle Ages,” whenever they want to comment on something absurd that makes us regress so much we turn into barbarians, puritans, God-fearing souls destined to die of the plague. And every time I

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  • Cesare Borgia: the Prince beyond the Black Legend

    In collective memory, the name of Cesare Borgia evokes intrigue, crimes, and cruelty. The “black legend” of the Borgias painted him as a Renaissance monster—fascinating and dangerous, capable of killing brothers and betraying allies without remorse. Yet behind this mask of blood and fear lies a cultured, refined man, a talented strategist and visionary politician,

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  • Sexuality in the Fifteenth Century: Between Sin and Medicine

    A few months ago, I wrote about sex toys in the Middle Ages, you can find the article here. Today I’ve chosen to step into the bedrooms of both common people and royals, to show that no matter which century you live in, or where you live, sexuality has always remained the same throughout the

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  • 22 August 1485, the day loyalty died

    “Treason! Treason!” These were the last words of Richard III on the battlefield of Bosworth, just before a blow struck him from behind, ending his life at only 32 years of age. In recent weeks I have deliberately chosen not to post anything, as my mind has remained fixed on an event deeply rooted in

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