For thousands of years, people have placed curses on their enemies and wished them misfortune. Many of these hexes have involved pleas to the forces of the occult with prayers and rituals.

Sometimes it might be an actual object or a place that is cursed, like a tomb. Many Medieval tales involve warnings about destruction and deaths that appear to be linked to curses. Let us travel back in time now to the Middle Ages and hear about some of these mysterious tales of a biological bomb, the downfall of a dynasty, and why a bank in Tokyo opened an account in the name of a samurai warrior who had been dead for 1,000 years.

Menstruation is a milestone in the life of any girl or woman. A biological phenomenon that changes her body and her social standing. But what about women who lived during the Middle Ages? Knowing what we do about Medieval hygiene it’s hard not to feel sympathy for them, without the convenience of modern pads and tampons. Did they understand what was happening to their bodies during their period? What sort of sanitary products and pain relief did they use? Why did the Medievals believe that menstrual blood was poisonous and could trigger some quite shocking magical feats? And why were medieval women wearing pouches filled with the ashes of burnt toads? Welcome to Medieval Madness.

Honestly, Vikings were pretty much the same as any other medieval people – they were farmers and handymen most of the time. Most Vikings lived on a farmstead and they would have had to have been able to grow crops, tend livestock, and create all the tools they’d need to maintain their homes and animals. But that’s not all. Vikings were versatile and able to turn their hands to anything they wanted to.

Things started to change as Viking settlements became larger – if you lived in a small community, it was less likely that you’d be able to find a fun job – you had to be able to do many things from farming to fixing barns to hunting and skinning for furs. As the Viking age progressed and settlements became larger and more urban, it was easier for a people to specialise in certain trades and get known for their work. In this video, we are going to talk about five interesting occupations during the Viking age. Welcome to the Viking Vault.

What would the Medievals want with a burnt owl, a chopped-up cat, or dove faeces? How do you help a bald man with gout? Or a woman with ‘blocked menses?’

If they weren’t too complicated, most medicines in the Middle Ages were homemade. Many were quite practical, and most of the ingredients make sense to us because they are still recognisable today. Others are just downright freaky…

It was a spectacular win for the young English King Henry V on St. Crispin’s Day 1415. And everybody loves to see a win for the underdog, a victory for the common soldier over the well-armed knight. It felt like every moment of the Hundred Years War had been leading up to this point. A pivotal battle that would change the course of European warfare forever and saw the French army lose to an English army that was less than half its size. But war is, and was a dangerous and violent affair, so today we continue our ‘Day in the Life’ series and travel back in time to see what life was like for one of Henry V’s soldiers at the Battle of Agincourt. Welcome to Medieval Madness.

Being a criminal in the modern age really doesn’t have quite the same thrill anymore – you get caught by the police, tried, and then sent to prison for a certain amount of time. The Vikings on the other hand... Well, they knew what to do with a criminal. Viking society didn’t have political or criminal institutions in the same way as we do now – but they did have a complex web of honour and justice that ran throughout their entire society and laid the foundations of their legal system. Taking ownership of your misdeeds and having integrity were fundamental to being a “good” Vikings.

Vikings had a keen understanding of criminality and legality, and they had a set of laws that governed daily life in the Viking period. In fact, the modern English word “law” comes from the old Norse “lag” which meant something laid down, or fixed. Viking law wasn’t written down until much later, so in oral tradition there were “lawmakers” who were responsible for memorising all the laws instead.

Although there were loose laws that would have been the same throughout all of Viking society, the punishments varied from settlement to settlement, and a crime that could have been overlooked in one place might earn you the death penalty in another! Execution was normally reserved for the most serious crimes like murder, kidnapping, magic with ill-intent and theft. Welcome to the Viking Vault.

Alberico was many things, a friend and patron to troubadours, an Occitan poet, a mercenary, and a Podesta. But being politically allied to his notoriously cruel brother Ecelino didn’t help Alberico when he was eventually captured by Papal troops. What was Alberico so guilty of that had caused him to be hated in the Italian city of Treviso? The Middle Ages were violent, pitiless, and revenge-driven times. So today we continue our ‘Day In The Life’ series and travel back in time to see what life was like for Alberico Ezzelino on the worst day of HIS life, the day that he faced his execution. Welcome to Medieval Madness.

During the Middle Ages, ale was the most popular drink in England, and Medieval taverns, inns, and alehouses held a very important role in society, providing drink, food, and lodging to weary travellers, pilgrims, and even occasionally royalty. When we think of the Medieval tavern we imagine dark and smelly places with huge wooden tables and benches, places of gambling, violence, and shady business deals. But what were pubs really like in the Middle Ages? Let’s travel back in time for some leather mugs, a bit of royal paranoia, and the occasional stabbing. Welcome to Medieval Madness.