MetaFilter posts tagged with middleages and medieval

Online courses on Western history

Kattullus — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:20:31 -0800

Dr. E.L. Skip Knox teaches history at Boise State University. His online courses have dedicated websites with his lectures and plenty of supporting material. There are five, History of Western Civilization, covering the wide sweep of European history from ancient Athens to Copernicus, The Crusades, Europe in the Late Middle Ages, focusing on the the Renaissance, and Europe in the Age of Reformation. You can also go on a Virtual Pilgrimage to the Holy Land in medieval times. Dr. Knox has written extensively about online teaching including a lecture called The Rewards of Teaching On-Line where he explains his methods and shares his experiences.

Tilman Riemenschneider

thomas j wise — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:09:01 -0800

Tilman Riemenschneider (1460-1531) was one of the great late medieval sculptors. Riemenschneider worked in both wood and stone, although his specialty was limewood sculpture. (Not surprisingly, he had imitators.) His greatest achievements, however, are his exquisitely carved and spectacular altars, of which the most famous is the Altar of the Holy Blood (Heilig-Blut-Altar). For comparative purposes, see some of Riemenschneider's contemporaries, such as Niclaus Gerhaert von Leiden and Veit Stoss (especially the High Altar of St. Mary).

Medieval church carvings, masturbation included

Kattullus — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:26:45 -0800

Tina Manthorpe's Flickr set of churces and church carvings has many lovely images of the kinds of things one isn't surprised to see in churches, trees of life, colorful roof bosses, misericords and many more such beauties. More shocking to modern sensibilities are the pictures in the set she calls exhibitionist church carvings, featuring such images as a protogoatse, Starbucksesque mermaids, autofellatio, free-hanging genitals and, uh... something involving thumb-sucking and snakes.

Ancient, Medieval and Classic Works

Kattullus — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:19:35 -0800

In Parentheses is a collection of many ancient, medieval and classic texts from all over the world, many of whom are hard to find anywhere, let alone on the internet. There are translations from Greek, Old Norse, Medieval Irish, Japanese, Incan, Old French, Medieval Latin and many more! As well as all that they have papers in medieval studies and vaguely decadent and orientalism series. Adding to that there's a linguistics section with wordlists and language flash cards in languages such as Icelandic, Quechua, Basque, Classical Armenian and a whole bunch more. [flashcard links go to pdf files]

"Afterward, the locust with its execrable teeth"

Kattullus — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 05:00:06 -0800

The Speculum theologiae is a beautiful medieval manuscript. Its diagrams demonstrate visually various aspects of the medieval worldview. The diagrams are explained and translated and most of them are expounded upon in a short essay. My favorite diagrams are The Cherub with Six Wings, The 10 Commandments, Plagues of Egypt and Abuses of the Impious and The Tree of Virtue and The Tree of Vices.

Scans of medieval and renaissance manuscripts

Kattullus — Sat, 03 May 2008 10:06:45 -0800

Columbia University's Digital Scriptorium is a database of high quality scans from medieval and renaissance manuscripts. The highlights section alone is breathtaking, but you can search and browse through over 5000 manuscripts and almost 25000 individual images.

Grandmaster Gregory in da hizzouse

madamjujujive — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 00:33:15 -0800

The Pardoner's Tale - adapted to rap by Baba Brinkman, who has been rapping Chaucer tales for a few years now. He's also released The Rap Canterbury Tales, a book that presents raps side by side with Chaucer's original Middle English. Both video and book are illustrated graffiti-style by his brother Erik. Discussed in a previous post by fatllama on hip hop classics.

Bestiaries

thomas j wise — Wed, 13 Jul 2005 11:31:40 -0800

Hedgehog: a beast that carries away grapes on its sharp quills Everything you ever wanted to know about animals in the middle ages, courtesy of The Medieval Bestiary. The Aberdeen Bestiary is now online; see also images at Bestiaire (a French site; parts available in English and Spanish translation) and the Getty Museum.