Savoiardi biscuits You would have never thought that Savoiardi, the famous biscuits also used for the preparation of many homemade desserts, date back to the Middle Ages? To be precise, at the end of the 14th century and the name derives from that of House of Savoy ( see also https://www.
Portrait of Louis IX What did Louis IX, really die of king of France became, after the canonization, San Luigi ? As is known, he died under the walls of Tunis after the eighth crusade suffering from an unspecified disease ( see also https://www.pilloledistoria.it/4256/storia-antica/ales
Portrait of Ladislao I of Naples How Ladislao I di Napoli really died , called the Magnanimous ? Was he the victim of an illness, as the official version wants, or of a murder with risqué? Officially the cause of the premature death was a prostate infection, probably due to his well-
Part of the Jewish cemetery found in Bologna An archaeological discovery important and certainly unexpected has recently concerned Bologna, where the Jewish city cemetery was unearthed , which with its 408 burials it is, so far, the largest in Italy. After having been for about 200 years
A page of The Forme of Cury, a medieval English cookbook (1390) from which the recipe for Fruit Croquettes reported in the post is taken The cooking recipe which I report in this post is taken from The Forme of Cury , the most important medieval English cookbook (first publication 139
A typical medieval public bath, actually a place of prostitution How prostitution in the Middle Ages was seen ? In principle very bad, but in fact much less. sexuality out of wedlock it was considered sinful and therefore always wrong, but with the passage of time we became more tolerant (
Burning of witches In the Middle Ages witches were burning. Everyone takes it for granted, but the truth is different. In reality, there are many clichés, beliefs and myths to dispel about the Middle Ages (and not only) and this is just one of the most widespread. How are things really,
The ius primae noctis, contrary to what many believe, was only a tax due to the lord What really was ius primae noctis ? On this rule in force for much of the medieval era , it gets a bit confusing. Most of the people, if questioned about it, respond confidently that it did nothing but s
Dracula in a 1931 film adaptation The disturbing Count Dracula he is the protagonist of the eponymous gothic novel by Bram Stoker , published in 1897, therefore he is a literary character , moreover of great luck (who does not know him?). However, the writer, to outline the physical and ch
897:Synod of the corpse. Pope Formosus is found guilty during a post mortem trial One can imagine something more grotesque than a one trial dead ? In the Middle Ages this also happened. The event went down in history as the synod of the corpse ”And was set up for Papa Formoso , who
Charlemagne Despite the high rank, Charlemagne he had rather simple tastes, even in clothing . Eginardo, secretary of the sovereign, informs us in detail about it, writing the following: “he wore the national costume of the Franks:in contact with his body he wore a linen shirt and linen
Portrait of the Emperor Charlemagne. The monarch had an exceptional physique The Emperor Charlemagne , according to the chronicles of the time, he had an extraordinary physique, quite common at that time (https://www.pilloledistoria.it/1490/medioevo/laltissimo-carlo-magno). A detailed portrait
The drawing depicts Charlemagne with one of his most famous wives, Ermengarda. The monarch was an unrepentant womanizer Charlemagne , king of the Franks and a highly skilled politician, had a rather turbulent private life and he was, as attested by the sources, an unrepentant womanizer . T
Wine in the Middle Ages In the Middle Ages wine and beer flowed in rivers. A sober period par excellence, the so-called middle age however, it was not such in the consumption of alcohol, which were drunk daily with greed and pleasure by people of all ages and walks of life. From this
Joan of Arc, also known as the Maid of Orleans in the only contemporary portrait that has come down to us By Joan of Arc , the brave Maid of Orleans condemned to the stake for heresy in 1431 (https://www.pilloledistoria.it/7340/medioevo/la-morte-di-giovanna-darco-secondo-un-testimone-oculare
Joan of Arc in prison (from a film) On the five months of imprisonment that Joan of Arc he lived in a cell of the castle of Rouen from the very beginning of the trial that finally led to the stake, we have received several testimonies, all agree in reporting severe and often too harsh condit
A market from many centuries ago During the Middle Ages the market it was a place for shopping, but also for meetings and socializing, as people from all social strata gathered there. Rich and poor, men and women, young and old, all looking for bargains, made medieval markets crowded and liv
A typical medieval house. Usually the houses, in the Middle Ages, were on two floors How a medieval house was made ? An unambiguous and precise answer to this question cannot be given, as there were significant differences from one place to another and even within the same city, but in princ
Fruit and vegetable market in the Middle Ages In the Middle Ages the market A famous fresco provides us with an idea of how it unfolded and the ferment that animated it. located in the Issogne Castle (Aosta Valley), which you can admire in the attached image, depicting a fruit and vegeta
A medieval “cheesemaker” (engraving by Tacuinum Sanitatis) The cheese it is an ancient food, even prehistoric (https://www.pilloledistoria.it/9672/preistoria/preistoria-la-scoperta-del-formaggio), but the profession of cheese maker , intended as cheese seller, it was established only in medi
On March 1, 1881, Russia was shocked by the news of the death of Alexander II. In the heart of St. Petersburg, on the Catherine Canal, a Pole, Ignacy Hryniewiecki, a member of the terrorist organization Wola Ludu, threw a bomb at the monarch. This was the seventh attempt to destroy the emperor, wh
“Extraction of mental illness” by Hieronymus Bosch (1492). Prado Museum, Madrid In past centuries, very little knowledge about mental illness , caused the pathologies related to this sphere of the organism to be treated, obviously in a clumsy way and almost always with worse results than the dis
The City of London, the UKs capital, is one of the oldest in the world with almost two millennia of history. This city is one of the most cosmopolitan capitals. It is by far the largest city in the UK, and also the countrys economic, transport and cultural center. The city is located at the top of t
Malnourished and weakened they jumped with a penalty frog, played volleyball and ran for the hundred. Sports struggles were to give them, at least a substitute for normality. Who? Prisoners of POW camps who, in 1940 and 1944, organized their - as they proudly called them - games behind barbed wire.